Ministers should consider vaccinating children against coronavirus to protect them from getting ‘Covid long’, leading scientists said today.
Dr. Anthony Costello, a pediatrician and member of SAGE Independent, warned experts that they remain plagued by the long-term complications of the disease, which pose little threat to young people.
He said that children were a ‘special risk area’ because there was a chance that they could be affected for decades.
Children are not currently on the No10 vaccine priority list because the approved jobs have been proven to prevent symbolic illness and potentially fatal side effects of the disease.
Young people are rarely getting sick and statisticians have found that they are at greater risk of being struck by lightning than dying with Covid.
Dr Costello said studies that the Government should consider vaccinating children to protect them from prolonged Covid.
He said studies suggested that 15 percent of high school students and 13 percent of primary school children still had coronavirus symptoms five weeks after becoming infected.
Ministers should consider vaccinating children against coronavirus to protect them from getting ‘Covid long’, says Dr Anthony Costello (pictured right), pediatrician and member of SAGE Neo -dependent, has warned. Dr Deepti Gurdasani (left), epidemiologist at Queen Mary, University of London, said schools are not ‘magical places where transmission doesn’t happen’
Dr Costello told a meeting of the All-Party Parliamentary Groups on coronavirus today: ‘The concern is this: we don’t really understand Covid for long and what he means.
‘We don’t know how long this virus lasts in human bodies and even brains. ‘
There are 19 million children in the UK, Dr Costello said, and if left unprotected and lock-in rules in place, half of them could catch the virus and millions could suffer from long-term Covid.
“We don’t know for sure what the long-term impact will be,” he said.
‘Should we be vaccinating children, even if they are the lowest priority group? We need to consider this again. ‘
Dr Deepti Gurdasani, epidemiologist at Queen Mary, University of London, said: ‘We don’t understand Covid for long … so it would be completely negligent to put children at risk.
‘This may not be a short-term illness for many people, it may be a chronic illness.’
Dr Costello ‘s view – backed by an epidemiologist at the same Government meeting – comes as Boris Johnson fights to reopen schools from March 8.
With cases and deaths easing and jobs escalating faster than expected, the Prime Minister is said to have ordered preparations to prepare for children getting back into classes.
But experts fear the date he set is too early. SAGE adviser Professor Calum Semple today warned that the ‘nearby’ UK was unable to reopen schools as day-to-day disease remains too high, even though they are falling fast .
He said the No10 advisory panel has always said ‘schools should be the last thing they open and the first thing they open because children’ are not the main driver of the revolution. -out this’. He also warned that they are ‘suffering greatly’ from home learning.
But scientists today said there was ‘very clear’ evidence that closing schools was one of the best ways to lower the R level – the average number of people who suffer from every coronavirus patient.
Dr Gurdasani said schools are not ‘magical places where referrals do not occur’.
She said: ‘The idea that children are less likely to be based on data was very small and flawed.
‘With much better studies now we know that children play a very important role in transmission.
‘Looking at data from around the world it is very clear that school closures are one of the most effective measures to bring R. down.
‘Children are twice as likely to bring Covid into the home than an adult… and are twice as likely to catch other people in the household than adults.
‘Overall, they make a significant contribution to distribution in schools and in the community, which is very clear in global evidence – schools are a great link.’
She said: ‘It was very clear during the last lock, when schools were open, issues of the new variable were rising at R of 1.5 – it was just school closures that brought R under one.’
Boris Johnson discussed the state of play in a coronavirus crisis with the Cabinet this morning – with most ministers dialing in but Priti Patel in the chamber
Dr Gurdasani said school closures could cut the R rating by as much as 20 per cent.
Dr Costello said: ‘The evidence I have seen shows that children are not as far away as adults at the spread of the disease, so we need to treat them that way.’
Long Covid hits one in ten under-50s infected with Covid-19, according to estimates.
But studies have suggested that women are 50 percent more likely to suffer from persistent symptoms than men.
Experts warn that the NHS could face high demand from long-term Covid patients when the pandemic ends, as millions of Britons have already contracted the disease.
Researchers from the Patient-led Research group for Covid-19 studied the effects of Covid long by studying more than 3,700 patients complaining of persistent symptoms.
They found that 1,665 – or 45 per cent – said they had a ‘smaller’ agenda than they had before they became ill.
And 825 – or 22.3 percent – did not work because of health conditions, although the researchers did not say whether this was due to the virus or an underlying feature that was present before they became infected.
Up to 317 – or eight per cent – said their symptoms had become severe enough for them to go into hospital, and 1,312 – or 35 per cent – said they had visited A&E because of symptoms.
NHS England guidelines warn that Covid-19 sufferers should call an ambulance if their symptoms worsen or last longer than seven days.
They breathe very badly, cough up blood, blue lips or face, feel grumpy and cold, droop, become difficult to lift, feel upset and helpless. frequent visits to the toilet are also warning signs that patients should go to A&E units.
But in the survey participants did not say what symptoms led them to go to the hospital.
More than half of the patients surveyed – 2,454 or 66 percent – still suffered from at least one symptom of coronavirus six months after their infection.