Vaccine advice regarding 12 to 15 year olds

Professor Karina Butler, Chair of the National Immunisation Advisory Committee, gives an update on the NIACs recommendation for vaccines to be offered to those aged 12 - 15 years of age. #HoldFirm #ForUsAll TRANSCRIPT: NIAC has recommended that the COVID-19 vaccines be made available for children aged 12 to 15 years of age. The reason we've made these recommendations is to protect children from the very mild infections of COVID and from the very rare complications of COVID that can affect even healthy children rarely. We would absolutely encourage those who have underlying medical conditions that put them at higher risk of COVID to avail of the vaccine as soon as it is offered. We would also strongly encourage parents of children who are living in households with anyone else who is vulnerable, either a younger child with an underlying health condition, or perhaps an older adult who might not have responded as well to the vaccine, for example, if they had an immune-compromised condition, to avail of the vaccine as soon as they can. The reason we've made these recommendations are, as I said, to protect children from frequent mild infection, but most children do get over that very well. Some children, mainly those with underlying conditions, can end up seriously ill. But there are also other complications from this infection. Some children get a rare inflammatory condition, sometimes four to six weeks following infection. And hopefully, these vaccines will help to prevent that. And we don't know everything about the long COVID. In general, the data in children is very reassuring. But these are some of the reasons that we have recommended that it should be made available. In addition to that, we feel that it will be a step towards giving children the wider benefit and normalising their growing up and their life experience as they have suffered greatly during the pandemic from all those extra curtailments on life.