One of Nicola Sturgeon’s key coronavirus advisers has called for children to be vaccinated against the disease, saying that letting the virus spread as pupils return to school was “reckless”.
Devi Sridhar, chairwoman of global public health at Edinburgh University, has warned that pupils may be facing a “wave of infections with unknown consequences” as they begin the new academic year this month unprotected against Covid-19.
She also suggested that schools could become “a petri dish for Covid variants” which would render vaccines less effective or pose greater risks to “unvaccinated children”. Sridhar concluded in the article published by The Guardian: “There’s no good path forward until we have approved vaccines for all age groups.”
Her comments came after it was announced that those aged 16 and 17 in Scotland will be offered a first dose of a coronavirus vaccine as soon as possible, with government advisers likely to recommend inoculations for children aged over 12 in the next few months.
Professor Robert Dingwall, a scientist who sits on the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which is advising the government during the Covid-19 pandemic, said that allowing young people to develop natural immunity rather than exposing them to “possible” risks from a vaccination, might be the right approach.
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Allyson Pollock, a public health expert at Newcastle University, has warned that vaccinating children could carry unknown consequences for years, while their risk from Covid-19 is low.
Schools in Scotland return from the summer break around mid-August and new guidelines published this week appear to impose tougher restrictions in educational settings than in wider society. School assemblies are banned and visits from parents are strictly limited, with teacher consultations still taking place online. Meanwhile, adults can mix freely elsewhere and join crowds of thousands at events.
Lindsay Paterson, professor in educational policy at Edinburgh University, said that the continuing school rules undoubtedly had educational consequences for children.
He said: “Parents of new primary school children and parents of last year’s P1s have never had the chance to network with other parents or get to know teachers or staff at after-school clubs, that is really quite serious.”
He added: “You can have 2,000 people inside the Usher Hall [in Edinburgh] but you cannot have one tenth of that number in a school hall. That seems completely absurd.”
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He noted there was a debate to be had about vaccinating children, but stressed that the decision should be driven by science rather than politics.
A Scottish government spokesman said that requirements to self-isolate after contact with a Covid-19 case were being reduced for those under the age of 18, in contrast to adults.
He added: “While we monitor the impacts of this change, we will retain the majority of mitigations in schools for up to six weeks. This approach reflects the unique features of the school environment, which at the start of term will involve large numbers of unvaccinated children and young people coming together with adult staff on a non-discretionary basis.
“This is very different from many other events and settings, where an increasing proportion of attendees will be vaccinated and can make risk-based decisions on attendance.”
Eileen Prior, executive director of the parent organisation Connect, said parents were also split about vaccines.
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She added: “Some parents withhold consent for vaccinations and others are keen to see their youngsters have the vaccination, with the return to more normal school life this would be expected to bring.
“The fact that many (though not all) restrictions will remain in place when schools go back undoubtedly makes life challenging for children at school every day, as well as for staff and families.”
