Vaccinate the kids!

Clinically Extremely Vulnerable (CEV) children are still waiting to be vaccinated, and many are being infected while they wait.

We, the One Voice Support Group and the Clinically Vulnerable Families all have multiple members desperate to secure vaccination for their children aged 5-11 who are eligible – but the vast majority have been turned away.

Many have been infected in the interim after being forced into schools heaving with COVID.

Parents have been contacting their GP, their Clinical Commissioning Groups (CCGs), and whomever else they can think of, but have been sent around in circles with very few clear answers. Most answers which are gleaned bring disappointment.

From our Twitter Direct Messages (DM): “NHS England have been told they can split adult doses for the vulnerable kids. It’s off license, that’s the issue. GPs aren’t willing, NHS England hasn’t provided the detailed guidance on how to do that.”

Another DM: “According to the head of complaints for our CCG, they’ve had less than 5,000 doses arriving in the UK, none of which have found their way to my area. And they have no estimated date. It was her who suggested it may be as late as the end of February.

“The overriding issue is that no one seems to KNOW. No one has a clear answer, or process, or plan.”

“I’ve been fed shit from everyone I’ve spoken to on this subject, so I don’t believe anything I’m told by anyone currently. They will literally say anything to get you to eff off and take the issue somewhere else...

“Over the last 3 weeks, I have spoken to 119, NHS England, 3 CCGs, my GP, the local Vaccination Centre and our Director for Public Health. And I haven’t been told the same thing twice...

“NHS England offered to give me the telephone number for the JCVI... when I say they will say anything to get you off the phone, I’m not joking. The only thing I’ve heard consistently is “it’s not me / it’s not us.”

“Someone called me yesterday, said they’re vaccinating here from Tuesday... Got my hopes up and everything. Then he called me back half an hour later and said “Sorry, we have no vaccines, it definitely won’t be Tuesday. No idea when they’re arriving, I’ll call you when we hear.”

While families with vaccine-eligible children aged 5-11 are given the run-around, this is happening. And it is desperately wrong.

Daily COVID cases, 0-4 and 5-9 year olds. | Chart: @jneill - Data: UKHSA

These are the families our government are letting down.

These are the people who have had to bow and beg and SCRAPE for the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to slip down off its giant bloody horse to throw a few crumbs to. And now they are being ignored and shunned and infected – again.

JCVI

As support team members, we are doing all we can to help these families, but it isn’t remotely enough. All of this is happening in front of us, and to some of us personally, while we watch government ministers crow daily that vulnerable 5-11s are vaccinated.

No. They are NOT.

We are sitting uncomfortably on the edge of our seats here, wondering if the next child death we see dutifully reported by @TigressEllie could have been prevented if that child had been given the vaccine they were eligible for.

In the context of mass infection is an attendance policy that has never paid any heed to the physical safety of parents, and is now more unyielding than ever. We fear for the safety of our vulnerable members, our teammates, our friends, and in some cases ourselves.

If that makes us chickens, so be it. We don’t care.

Call us whatever you like. But, for the love of all that is sane, if there is a single shred of humanity, decency or intelligence left in this Godforsaken country: vaccinate the kids!

Update:

NHS England » NHS expands COVID vaccinations to the most vulnerable 5 to 11 year olds

Health and high quality care for all, now and for future generations

NHS EnglandNHS England

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Sources

• Text: This piece was first published as a Twitter thread and turned into the above article on 30 January 2022 with the purpose of reaching a larger audience. It has been minorly edited and corrected, and published with the author’s consent. | The author of the tweets writes in a personal capacity.
• Cover: Adobe Stock/IdeaBug, Inc..