As I have said repeatedly, any society willing to place burdens on children to make adults feel better has lost its collective mind. In August, two FDA vaccine experts resigned, reportedly due to political pressure to approve boosters. Perhaps that is only half the story.
The FDA approval of the BioNTech vaccine Comirnaty did not include vaccines for 12-15-year-olds. These remain under Emergency Use Authorization. Recently, the U.K. Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) delivered its long-awaited verdict, saying that the “margin of benefit” for vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds was “considered too small” to recommend all children in this age group be vaccinated. Not satisfied with the recommendation, Health Secretary Sajid Javid asked the health ministers to review the vaccinations for this age group from a “broader perspective.” In other words, a government official wants the nation’s health ministers to look at vaccinating children from a different point of view, beyond a risk-benefit analysis. That is insane.
For context, the CDC is monitoring COVID-19 associated hospitalizations through a network of hospitals and states that covers approximately 10% of the U.S. population. Through September 4, 2021, the network has reported 3,899 hospitalizations for children under 18. As with all COVID-19 tracking, these statistics do not differentiate between an incidental positive test and a hospitalization for COVID-19. One study in California found that 40% of pediatric hospitalizations counted as a COVID-19 admission were incidental positive tests.
Still, using the total number and assuming the rate is somewhat consistent nationwide, there have been approximately 38,990 pediatric hospitalizations with COVID-19. According to the CDC, about 64% of them have a comorbidity that increases risk. To date, the CDC reports that 4,404,141 Americans under 18 have been diagnosed with COVID-19. According to the agency’s estimate of disease burden, there are approximately 4.3 COVID-19 infections for each one diagnosed. This number could be higher among children, who often suffer from mild symptoms.
Related: Why Does the U.S. Ignore Data on Kids and COVID-19 From Other Nations?
That would mean approximately 19 million children have already been infected with COVID-19. The risk of hospitalization in the age group with or for COVID-19 is 0.2%. With approximately 73 million Americans in that age group, that is a hospitalization rate of 0.05 per million. In a retrospective preprint study of 257 cardiac adverse events (CAE) following the second dose of an mRNA vaccine, the rate per million of CAEs by age and gender is:
The study used cases in the VAERS reporting system, which includes self-reported side effects, and the CDC’s working definition of probable myocarditis. Symptom-search criteria included chest pain, myocarditis, pericarditis, and myopericarditis to identify children with evidence of cardiac injury, and the word “troponin” was a required element in the laboratory findings. The findings demonstrate no margin of benefit to being vaccinated in this age group. In fact, they show there is a greater risk with vaccination.
The researchers compared hospitalization rates during low, moderate, and high virus transmission periods. For boys 12-15 without medical comorbidities, even during the highest hospitalization period studied, the risk of a CAE following dose two is 2.6 to 4.3-fold higher than the risk of being hospitalized with the virus. For boys aged 16-17, it is 1.5 to 2.3 higher. The current mRNA vaccines list a low risk of myocarditis and pericarditis as potential side effects in these age groups. The warning does not say that the risk is higher than the risk of serious illness from COVID-19.
The only rationale given for vaccinating teens is to protect the adults around them. Based on data from Israel and emerging data in the U.S., this reason is ridiculous. As Israel continues to battle COVID-19, the percentage of cases among fully vaccinated individuals exceeds the vaccination rate in every age group except for those over 80:
Rates of infection among the fully vaccinated are rising in the U.S. too. In Connecticut, 31.2% of current cases and 27.7% of hospitalizations are among the fully vaccinated. So, what is the rationale for vaccinating teens when the vaccinated can transmit the illness and the vaccinated can become infected? Especially when the vaccine can harm these children at a greater rate than the virus? There isn’t one, other than the adults in the room have entirely lost their minds.
