> Not sure if the risk/benefit ratio for vaccinating children is so clear-cut.
That's a totally reasonable position. There is a line that needs be drawn somewhere. Some people will consider the benefits here outweighing the risks while others might conclude the opposite. That's fine. For example there isn't a current recommendation in the US for boosters for the majority of the healthy population for exactly those reasons.
But claims here like covid vaccines "certainly will not benefit" children are quite clearly untrue. Or taking statements like "children are already the group least likely to be harmed by covid" to mean that they shouldn't be vaccinated even if the likelihood of vaccine complications is even lower.
The fact is that children are harmed by covid and that vaccines will reduce the risk of that harm. Is it worth it overall? Maybe, maybe not. That's a risk analysis question worth having. But acting like we're in a hysteria because of recommendations to get vaccinated drawn from studies showing it makes sense is itself hysteria.
> Some people will consider the benefits here outweighing the risks while others might conclude the opposite. That's fine.
> But acting like we're in a hysteria because of recommendations to get vaccinated drawn from studies showing it makes sense is itself hysteria.
IMO, the emotional response (or hysteria) stems from the fact that debatable recommendations are currently being used to justify mandates ("SF will soon require everyone 5 and older to show vaccination proof for restaurants, theaters, Warriors games"), therefore prohibiting people from outweighing the risks on their own.
Reading the same studies, health officials could come to the creative conclusion that, due to the "considerable uncertainty regarding the magnitude of the potential harms", all children should be banned from getting a vaccine or be forced to pay higher insurance rates.
That's a totally reasonable position. There is a line that needs be drawn somewhere. Some people will consider the benefits here outweighing the risks while others might conclude the opposite. That's fine. For example there isn't a current recommendation in the US for boosters for the majority of the healthy population for exactly those reasons.
But claims here like covid vaccines "certainly will not benefit" children are quite clearly untrue. Or taking statements like "children are already the group least likely to be harmed by covid" to mean that they shouldn't be vaccinated even if the likelihood of vaccine complications is even lower.
The fact is that children are harmed by covid and that vaccines will reduce the risk of that harm. Is it worth it overall? Maybe, maybe not. That's a risk analysis question worth having. But acting like we're in a hysteria because of recommendations to get vaccinated drawn from studies showing it makes sense is itself hysteria.