Utterly absurd jab mandate for kids must be opposed

Covid-19 is a virus of little consequence to healthy children so mandating they be vaccinated is absurd and against expert advice.

Just when you thought that Covid-19 hysteria had subsided and a hopelessly incompetent state government had determined to deal with the crisis in a proportionate manner, we hear about the possibility of mandatory vaccines for five-year-olds for a virus that is of little consequence to healthy children.

Even as the Dan Andrews government backflips on its exclusion of unvaccinated 12 to 15-year-olds from school events such as graduations, excursions and concerts, it is entertaining mandating Covid-19 vaccines for preppies.

Think for a moment how utterly absurd it is that we may require healthy children, as young as five, to be vaccinated against a virus that is less dangerous to them than influenza or be banned from entering restaurants, sporting events, retails outlets and a host of other activities and locations.

Make no mistake, any move to mandate Covid-19 vaccines for children of that age would not primarily be for their own good but to protect unvaccinated adults and minimise school closures. The Victorian government has already deemed children aged 12 to 15 who are not double jabbed persona non grata, banning them from just about everything other than schooling and essential shopping.

The Andrews government is entertaining mandating Covid-19 vaccines for preppies.

The impact is already being felt with Victoria’s policies out of step with NSW, which will soon abandon vaccine passports, giving everyone equal access.

By any measure NSW has outperformed Victoria throughout the Covid-19 crisis recording far fewer deaths, fewer days under lockdown and considerably less economic and emotional hardship. The latest data again reinforces that the NSW approach, while imperfect, is vastly superior to Victoria.

In the past 48 hours NSW recorded 353 cases and three deaths while Victoria recorded 1856 cases and 22 deaths. But the media, which was obsessively leading the nightly news with Covid case numbers, seems to have moved on.

In Victoria an unvaccinated 12-year-old is not allowed into a retail outlet to buy a pair of shoes but brothels can operate legally, as long as patrons are masked indoors. It would be funny if it were not so tragically stupid.

Parents have described how their children have been devastated by being treated like lepers, with some forced to try on clothing on the footpath after Victoria extended its vaccine mandates to 12-year-olds rather than 16 years and above.

“My 12-year-old daughter was refused entry for school uniform fitting and told she would have to try clothes on the footpath out the front of the store. Humiliated,” said one parent.

While there are many medical experts who back vaccine mandates, there are also many who are vehemently opposed to them particularly when it comes to children.

It is now hard to find a prominent, legitimate vaccine expert in Australia who agrees with including 12-15 yo in government vaccine-related social restrictions #auspol#covid19vic#covid19aus

— Dr. Nick Coatsworth (@nick_coatsworth) November 23, 2021

Infectious diseases expert and professor of paediatrics and child health Robert Booy is very much pro-vaccine but believes mandates can be counter-productive.

He explains that healthy children have little to fear from a coronavirus infection but those suffering from serious pre-existing issues, such as cerebral palsy, would benefit from being double jabbed.

“For healthy children, they are only going to get a cold, if that,” he explained on Sky News on Tuesday.

Surgeon Dr Ranjit Rao decried the price children have paid throughout the pandemic. “We may look back on the last two years and wonder what on earth we did to the children in the name of Covid. Schooling, friendships, sports, arts, mental health and more. They are at lowest risk but paid the maximum cost,” he wrote.

His sentiments were echoed by associate professor in education from Stockholm University Rebecca Adami, and assistant lecturer in moral responsibility and political theory from University College Cork Katy Dineen, who wrote: “During the Covid-19 pandemic children have been the target of dehumanising language and of policy which prioritises the needs of adults over theirs … the closure of schools is not the only policy decision ostensibly about children made with adults in mind”.

The vaccine mandate for children has left parents devastated.

Martin Makary, professor at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine, wrote in the Wall Street Journal in July that the evidence behind the vaccination push for children was “flimsy”. His team analysed about 48,000 cases of children under 18 diagnosed with Covid-19.

“Our report found a mortality rate of zero among children without a pre-existing medical condition such as leukaemia,” he wrote.

The WSJ also reported in July on “some of the most comprehensive studies” on kids and Covid from the UK showing that the survival rate for children was 99.995 per cent.

Infectious disease physician Dr Nick Coatsworth has also been outspoken against vaccine mandates.

“While I encourage parents to vaccinate their 12-15 year-old children, the risk of myocarditis especially in young boys is sufficient that parents have every right to wait for more data or to decline vaccination,’’ he said.

“In doing so, the child must not then be subject to differential public health treatment, which is effectively ‘mandating’ by regulation.”

The former deputy chief medical officer was especially scathing of Victorian authorities.

“In Victoria in particular, the chief health officer is breaching the fundamental ethical principle of autonomy in differential treatment of unvaccinated 12-15 year olds,’’ Dr Coatsworth said. “It is of deep concern that Victorian public health officials are making these decisions, and is prima facie evidence why the pandemic Bill in Victoria requires more opportunities for parliamentary oversight and administrative appeals against these decisions. There is no need for this policy when the vulnerable age groups are well in excess of 90 per cent vaccinated.”

The Covid-zero fantasists and catastrophists continue to scaremonger but the push to mandate Covid-19 vaccines for children between five and 11 should be resisted strongly.