Thread by @SGriffin_Lab

All this debate around schools and kids getting exposed to SARS2 needlessly is exhausting. But it's got me thinking...

It strikes me that there's a similar feel to the "kids don't get sick" thing (or at least not TOO many as to make those graphs we're all sick of shoot up too

quickly, or too much to make folks feel guilty..."'cos I've never known anyone die of COVID and my mate was fine")...sorry, I digress...
Yes, the sick kids, or not, reminds me of the "it's only the old folks, or the vulnerable, or the ones that don't look after themselves wot die

" brigade...
Now, huge apologies for the stereotypes, but much as I feel incredibly strongly that the lives of the people I've just described are just as important as everyone else...and, by the way may have a far tougher existence than many of us could EVER understand, I worry

too that the "small" numbers of kids that get ill are just becoming dots on a graph.
The tragedy of children dying or being seriously unwell, possibly for long periods, for me anyway, is the fact that they're deprived of the life they could, and let's face it should now have...

Childhood vaccines and other early years care has ensured that the vast majority of us will never thankfully have to experience the terrible loss of a child, or their health. But a silent minority do, and this has to be pain beyond all imagination to bear.
So, I'm going to be a

complete hypocrite and say that we perhaps should apply the precautionary principle all the more so to the kids. I had a painful taste of the prospect of losing my son, now 4, when he was a baby thanks to meningitis, but he, and so we all, were lucky.
I could rattle off graphs,

or numbers, but others do it far better than me anyway! But to be brief, the sheer scale of infection in our younger children means we ARE seeing kids in hospital, and sadly some HAVE died of this awful disease, with many more suffering long term problems - I won't accept recent

comments on this being "overblown", ridiculous.
Of course, nobody would EVER dream of giving their kids anything that could make them unwell, even slightly, but I feel strongly, as a parent, that I find the myocarditis risk far more palatable than COVID...both are small, of

course, in terms of risk, but risk x hazard is what I think we need to consider here...
As a virologist, I freely admit that it's impossible to keep up with the SARS2 research published continuously, much of it truly amazing, but I AM certain that we're still only scratching the

surface. I would not want to try and guess, or I suppose as I scientist I should say "predict" how this will go...I AM certain there are more surprises to come though...
Please don't take all this as me not having faith in vaccines, far from it, and I'd jab my 4 yo tomorrow if I

was allowed. But the simple fact is that we seem to have taken a gargantuan backwards step in our attitudes to this virus, thinking the vaccines are a silver bullet...which they never are. This isn't the fault of Joe public, it's a consequence of policy. I understand completely

the desire to get back to normal, but is that really ever going to be possible if we're looking over our shoulder?
I know many disagree with me, and that's fine of course. But I'd say to everyone that if there's even a tiny chance that kids can come to harm that we CAN prevent,

why on earth would any sane person not do it? We have carseats for kids, we keep them away from live wires, we used to show them the Charlie Says films, all because they're so very precious.
The fact that many concerned parents are over a barrel and have no choice sending kids

to schools that have, in a matter of weeks changed from reassuring, secure (as they could be) places to some weird dystopian scenario where everyone just carries on and ignores the wolves at the door, is just astounding.
I'm encouraged to hear that many schools are taking action

themselves, against DfE "guidance", or lack thereof, but all the more dismayed by LEAs threatening parents that isolate close contacts altruistically, an action that was a legal requirement just a few weeks ago.
So, what on earth has all this been, other than me avoiding writing

a manuscript this evening? I'm not really sure, other than to say I feel fit to burst with frustration at the lack of precautionary measures now in place to safeguard our kids. Please remember families have vulnerable members, and kids aren't invincible. Please @nadhimzahawi

change this callous strategy that Prof Whitty admits will result in most of our kids being infected.
If I have to wear PPE and work on this beasty in a sealed glove box in a BSL3, how on earth can you dole it out along with the school dinners?

Right, apologies for the ramble...