It's clear that their top priority was "reductions in hospitalisations and deaths in the population". 1/
They move on to considering vaccine safety - but say, in effect, there's not enough data.
But many other countries have been vaccinated children without significant safety signals.
They explain why they recommend vaccination of 12-17yos with certain conditions increasing their risk (and suggest there will be more detail to follow).
And recommend vaccinating those who are household contacts of immunosuppressed. 3/
Because "The health benefits in this population are small, and the benefits to the wider population are highly uncertain" they conclude that "…the health benefits of universal vaccination in children and young people below the age of 18 years do not outweigh the potential risks"
I'm not convinced this follows.
Just because benefits "are uncertain" does not mean they don't exist.
And many would argue that they are substantial, even if they cannot yet be estimated precisely.
5/
In a section headed "Direct health benefits" they consider the fact that few children without underlying conditions will be seriously ill if they get Covid-19.
Oddly (given the section's heading) they then move on to discussing possible VAERs.
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1/ I keep hearing that ministers have a "right to privacy", so their WhatsApp messages should not be shared.
This is a desperate attempt to conceal important information from the Covid Enquiry.
It is nonsense.
2/ Ministers and public officials have official communication channels to use for official business.
If they choose to use the same channels for their personal, private, business, they forfeit the right to keep those personal communications from other officials.
3/ This doesn't mean that they should be published, just as their official business communications won't be published in full.
But they have no right to withhold these messages from HR or formal official requests by appropriate people - recently Baroness Hallett.
1/ One of my friends is a neurologist who has been very concerned about the harms caused to a few people by nitrous oxide ("laughing gas").
2/ As he is a friend, and a political activist with whom I agree on many things, I have been sad that I could not support him on his desire for new legislation to ban nitrous oxide.
3/ It illustrates something I learned very early on in my public health training.
2/ People working in the news should have a positive duty to point out lies; but where the lies come from ministers or other government representatives, the BBC has an extremely poor record at calling them out.
3/ I want people to be able to discuss important issues without being told to get back in their box, or keep their opinions to themselves.
1/ Of course, voter fraud is potentially an issue. But, in the UK at least, it seems to be a very small problem.
The tories have proposed a solution which is a sledgehammer to crack a nut, and will be far worse than the current situation. theconversation.com/six-reasons-br…
2/ Sadly, @UKLabour appear not to oppose the bill.
Many of us will remember the immense problems there were with some recent votes - particularly, for example, for EU citizens who were entitled to vote prior to Brexit.
3/ Some of these problems might even have been reduced with some form of ID documentation.
The Queen's death has led me to a far more republican position than I held previously.
1/9
I have always been aware that selecting a head of state the way we do it in the UK - and remember, the Queen believed that God had appointed her - is bizarre.
2/9
But I also felt - and probably not just because of her good PR - that the Queen did a good job.
And the US system could hardly be worse.
So I was content not to worry too much about our superstitious (appointed by God?) monarchic system.
3/9
1/ I have been married for 35 years, and my wife, Doro (@Fifino9) died this morning.
Long, raw thread…
In 2010, Doro found a lump in her breast. Lumpectomy, chemo, radiotherapy, hormone treatments (and consequent spotting and endometrial cancer scare) followed.
2/ At about the time of the original diagnosis, Public Health England blighted our lives, falsely blaming me for errors over the Godstone Farm E coli outbreak, damaging my reputation, and putting my career on hold for five years, for more senior people's mistakes.
3/ In 2019 Doro had some abdominal pain. She'd been discharged from the cancer hospital and the "contact us if you need us" service assured us that, this long after the treatment, it was highly unlikely to be related to the cancer diagnosis. A gastroscopy showed no pathology.