Thread by @SGriffin_Lab

So, COVID vax entering preschool programme is frowned upon by some...after all "kids are all infected anyway, and they don't get sick"...a 🧵

This excellent paper is often cited to support that protection from infection is equivalent to vaccines...

nejm.org/doi/full/10.10…

Sure, protection from infection and hospitalisation appear better in the infected cohort...

BUT, what's sometimes missed is the actual numbers reflecting how we get to these pretty graphs...

193K infections, 309 hospitalised, 7 died
273k vaccinees, 15 hospitalised, 0 died

Other important points:

The vaccinated cohort included either one or two shots...we know from adults that three is best, so efficacy could theoretically be improved.

Vaccinating pre-infected kids improves protection, the authors recommend boosters for both vaxd & infected kids

Yes, protection vs infection wanes relatively quickly, AS IT DOES IN ADULTS, especially vs Omicron. Of course there's work to do on vaccines, esp in terms of improved invariant targets and induction of mucosal immunity (in THAT order!).
BUT, we can't guarantee new vax will work,

so why folks are saying "let's wait until we have this/that version of the SARS-CoV2 vax" is beyond me.
We can already protect vs severe disease and, timed right, boost kids over winter so COVID doesn't coincide with other beasties.

However, as I wrote-

theconversation.com/covid-vaccines…

my main concern is that a) kids now will continue to get reinfected, and b) there's now no provision of population immunity going forward in young children OTHER THAN INFECTION!
All when there's a perfectly good vax (usual caveat, no medicine is perfect, individual cases matter).

This, and limiting transmission is why we vax kids vs influenza...
Sadly, another virus with potential for making kids severely unwell for which there's a VERY good vaccine is Varicella Zoster (Chicken pox). The reason this vax isn't used is due to an unproven (AFAIK) idea that

kids getting chicken pox (yes, the whole chicken pox party thing is ACTUALLY VERY STUPID AND IRRESPONSIBLE) is supposed to "top up" adult immunity to reduce incidence of shingles...adults are expensive, you see...

The entire notion that kids don't get unwell from SARS-CoV2 is a

reflection that we tend to focus upon individual, not population scale risk. This is fine when public health provides a safety net...can't see much evidence of that DURING A PANDEMIC...🙄

If you'd like an excellent breakdown of the numbers @chrischirp

https://twitter.com/chrischirp/status/1621537614992998402?s=20

Moreover, it was shown recently by @ONS that, unlike adults, @LongCovidKids is as likely to occur upon reinfection as it is following a first exposure...there's variability, but DEFINITELY a difference compared to adults.

ons.gov.uk/peoplepopulati…

Getting reinfected can also reactivate or worsen #LongCovidKids ...this is a major concern if we continue with five waves per year going forwards...you/your kids may start to recover, then get sent straight back to jail without passing go...😥💔

gavi.org/vaccineswork/n…

Perhaps not on many people's radar, but @NICEComms recently recommended that #Remdesivir should be dropped for treating severe acute infection in the community or hospital...
this matters for kids bc e.g. Paxlovid isn't approved and m'abs are almost all out-paced by SARS2 now...

What really riles me is that #JCVI cite poor uptake as a reason for dropping childhood COVID vax...

If you were worried about a new vaccine and stressed from a pandemic, would you embrace something pitched like this?

Methinks not...

theconversation.com/uptake-of-chil…

This whole idea that we can crowbar a pandemic, highly variable virus into a "like flu but not as good" model of targeted vaccination feels naïve, short-sighted, and more to do with maintaining the illusion that the pandemic is over than anything else...

I mean, wouldn't want to distract folks from those oh-so-dangerous dinghies, eh?

This chap called Jenner, he pushed vax over variolation...we ended up eradicating a disease that once killed millions. "Living with something" should not be enduring, esp when it comes to our kids.