A group of doctors and scientists has called for a pause to the roll out of the Covid vaccine for children and teenagers saying the risk outweighs benefits which they claim are now "virtually zero".
Among them is Dr Roland Salmon, former director of the communicable disease centre in Wales. He said the timing of Welsh Government's further announcement on February 15 that all children aged 5 to 11 will be offered the Covid jab was "extraordinary".
Dr Salmon is among more than 90 senior doctors, scientists and health professionals who have formed a group called the independent Children’s Covid Vaccines Advisory Group (CCVAG). The group had already signed a letter to the The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation asking for a pause to vaccines for older children when the Welsh Government announced younger children here will also be offered the jab.
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The CCVAG said a worldwide increase in all-cause mortality in males aged 15-19 who have had the vaccine "requires immediate investigation".
Responding to the latest news that all 5 to 11 year-olds in Wales are now also be offered the vaccine Dr Salmon told WalesOnline: "I find the timing of the Welsh Government announcement extraordinary. The Welsh Government has always made much of "following the science" and yet here, apparently, it is choosing to proceed ahead of the scientific advice being available.
"Further, the UK nations getting out of step on vaccination for Covid-19 not only potentially affects confidence in that vaccine but also the UK immunisation programme more widely.
"Why do this at a time when case numbers are falling and a high percentage of children are estimated to have been exposed to the natural infection and have antibodies?
"There seems to be a misconception that immunisation is an effective means of preventing transmission. It is not. At best it appears to be 50% effective, immediately post vaccination and falls off rapidly with time and with the emergence of variants of the virus. Any benefits to school attendance, therefore, might be expected to be very limited."
The CCVAG's letter to the JCVI said an "urgent review of the risk/benefit of the jab for children is needed in light of changes in the pandemic since the JCVI's decision to offer it to 12 to 15 year-olds and new international data on the risk of heart inflammation among teenage boys having the jab.
"The time has now come to pause and acknowledge that there is no emergency for children and that for them the balance of benefit and risk now clearly favours natural immunity," the letter adds
"On that basis the routine programme could and should be halted. Failure to act will lay you open to liability for ongoing harms."
The doctors add that there is "no knowledge of the long term implications of vaccinating children against what is now acknowledged to be a very mild illness for them, indeed with 50% having no symptoms whatsoever."
Among evidence of risks they cite findings from the USA, Hong Kong and Israel where vaccines for children and teenagers began earlier than the UK.
"On the risks side of the balance sheet, we have further information regarding myocarditis, with an occurrence rate of 1/2680 young men in Hong Kong, where unlike the UK, this was sought systematically from the start of their rollout. Indeed they paused their second dose, just as the UK moved from one to two doses.
"Data from the US also confirm high rates of 1/9443 in males aged 16-17 after their second dose.
"Other side effects such as increased blood clots will all be playing a part in this balance of risk. Non-fatal adverse events, particularly neurological, have the potential to blight the lives of affected children. "
But Dr David Tuthill, Consultant Paediatrician at the Children's Hospital for Wales, said the vaccine was "very safe" and would give benefits to children.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme Dr Tuthill, Wales officer for the Royal College of Paediatrician he said Covid was usually a "mild disease" for children but they had suffered side effects from the pandemic such as school closures and increased levels of depression and self harm.
"The vaccine is very safe. It's going to reduce spread in children. It's going to make children less likely to get Covid and reduce severity if they do.
"There's a tiny risk of myocarditis, which is the thing the JCVI is being very careful about - that's inflammation of the heart.
"But it happens with Covid and more severely with Covid. So vaccination will reduce the chance of that. It is very uncommon. It happens more in teenage boys, for some reason , we don't fully understand, particularly after the second dose. So if the plan is to initially is to give one dose the risk outweigh the benefits."
The Welsh Government was approached for comment.
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