Three Quarters Of UK Parents Not Planning To Let Their 5 -11 Yr Old Children Have ‘Covid’ Jab

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5 year old children

Only a quarter of UK parents are planning to have their primary aged school children vaccinated against covid when the jab rollout reaches those aged five to 11 next month.

Research by polling firm Findout now.co.uk for the Mail on Sunday found that 33 per cent of parents were undecided and 30 per cent said they would not get their kids inoculated.

The MoS reports: Half a million five to 11-year-olds deemed clinically at risk have been eligible for a jab since January.

The rollout will make six million more youngsters eligible.

Responding to the findings, GP and author Dr Philippa Kaye said: ‘I would strongly encourage parents to get their children vaccinated.

‘People are thinking about the risk of Covid, which thankfully is very mild in young children, but children are getting long Covid, which is a real concern. 

Most commonly, that manifests itself as fatigue but there are other symptoms too. 

‘We should not risk children missing more school because they are unwell.’

Dr Kaye – who said her 14-year-old son has been jabbed and her ten-year-old and six-year-old children would be too – also cited the risk of Paediatric Inflammatory Multisystem Syndrome (PIMS), a new condition that occurs weeks after someone has had Covid and causes swelling throughout the body. 

Primary schools have been viewed as high risk settings for the spread of Covid-19.