A Panda Initiative
All Risk, Zero Benefit
Stop the mass Covid-19 vaccine rollout for children and young people
Ten reasons why children and young people should not get the Covid-19 vaccines
According to evidence-based literature and comparative analysis we know the following:
1. Children and young people have a mostly mild or asymptomatic presentation when infected with SARS-CoV-2. They are at near-zero risk of death from COVID-19. COVID-19 does not lead to long-term sequelae in healthy children and young people. There is no meaningful difference in long-COVID symptoms reported by children and adolescents who were seropositive (with SARS-CoV-2 antibodies – indicating recent infection) or seronegative (without SARS-CoV-2 antibodies). A recent systematic review and meta-analysisconfirmed the above.
2. There is an unusually high rate of reported adverse events and deaths following the COVID-19 vaccines compared to other vaccines. Some adverse events are more common in the young, especially myocarditis. Where potential harm exists from an innovation and little is known about it, the precautionary principle dictates to first do no harm. Better safe than sorry. 3. Medium and long-term safety data about the COVID-19 vaccines are still lacking. Children and young people have a remaining life expectancy of 55 to 80 years. Unknown harmful long-term effects are far more consequential for the young than for the elderly. 4. Vaccination policies rely on expected benefits clearly outweighing the risk of adverse events from the vaccination. The risk-benefit analysis for the COVID-19 vaccines points to a high potential risk versus no benefit for children and young people. 5. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from children to adults is minimal and adults in contact with children do not have higher COVID-19 mortality. 6. It is unethical to put children and young people at risk to protect adults. Altruistic behaviors such as organ and blood donation are all voluntary.7. Several prophylactic treatments as well as the COVID-19 vaccines are available to high-risk individuals so they can protect themselves.
8. Natural immunity from infection with SARS-CoV-2 is broad and robust and more effective than vaccine immunity, especially in combating variants. Children and young people are safer with natural immunity.
9. There are several prophylactic (preventive) protocols and effective treatments available to children and young people with comorbidities.
10. Vaccinating children and young people is not necessary for herd immunity. After a year and a half of the pandemic, most people either have pre-existing immunity from other coronaviruses, have recovered from COVID-19 or have been vaccinated.
There is thus no medical or public health case for the mass vaccination of children and young people, or for coercive or restrictive measures affecting those who are unvaccinated
Raise your voice
Start a petition in your home country
If you are concerned about the wellbeing of children and young people and feel strongly about halting the unnecessary mass roll out of the COVID-19 vaccine to this population group, please consider launching the following petition in your country. Many individual efforts in local communities will create change on a global scale.
Here is a sample petition text we have prepared for your use:
STOP THE MASS COVID-19 VACCINE ROLL OUT FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
A risk-benefit analysis does not support giving COVID-19 vaccines to children and young people (below the age of 25).
Children and young people do not benefit from the COVID-19 vaccine as their risk from the disease is almost nil. Transmission of SARS-CoV-2 from children to adults is also minimal. Putting children and young people at risk of adverse events and death from the vaccine to protect others is contrary to biomedical ethics. The COVID-19 vaccines are still under investigation and not approved yet even for adult use. Their long-term adverse events have not yet been studied, and their short-term safety profiles are rapidly emerging. Mass vaccination of the young and vaccine trials on children are therefore unethical and unjustified, and must stop immediately.
This petition is based on ACTION 1.2 from the Declaration for The Protection of Children and Young People from the COVID-19 Response.
LAUNCHED PETITIONS
Send us the link to the petition you launch in your country so we can support you by adding it to our website.
Report adverse vaccine events
in children and young people
Ten Discover More
LETTER TO MEPs: STOP THE MASS COVID-19 VACCINE ROLLOUT FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
In response to plans to roll out the COVID-19 vaccination program to children and young people, PANDA sent this letter to all Members of European Parliament.
Lead Author
Abir Ballan, MPH
Abir has a Masters in Public Health, a graduate degree in special needs education and a BA in psychology. She is a children’s author with 27 published books. She has been an advocate for the inclusion of children with learning difficulties in mainstream schools. She is particularly committed to promoting the health and wellbeing of children and young people.
Reporting systems for vaccine-associated adverse events are intended to raise red flags to guide definitive investigation. Examples include the VAERS system (USA), EudraVigilance (EU) and the Yellow Card system (UK). As with severe disease and mortality associated with a recent positive SARS-COV-2 test, vaccine-associated events may result directly from the vaccine (the vaccine is causal) or reflect unrelated background disease that is not related to the vaccine. The voluntary or non-enforced nature of reporting also means that actual rates of reported events may represent only about 10% of the true rate.
These databases serve a vital function in identifying the occurrence of unusual events or higher than expected rates, spurring urgent investigation to ascertain the cause and, in some circumstances, a halting of or withdrawal of the vaccine. This is critical as mass vaccination moves beyond controlled trials into populations who differ from the clinical trial population, or where rare but critical events are likely to have been missed in the smaller trial group. The rise in reports of adverse events in these three databases since the introduction of COVID-19 vaccines, which were introduced after relatively short trial periods, is an example of these systems working, and is intended to trigger urgent action to review safety and potential causality.
Discover More
LETTER TO MEPs: STOP THE MASS COVID-19 VACCINE ROLLOUT FOR CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE
In response to plans to roll out the COVID-19 vaccination program to children and young people, PANDA sent this letter to all Members of European Parliament.
What else can you do?
SIGN THE DECLARATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE NOW.
SIGN THE DECLARATION FOR THE PROTECTION OF CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE NOW.
Lead Author
Abir Ballan
MPH
Abir has a Masters in Public Health, a graduate degree in special needs education and a BA in psychology. She is a children’s author with 27 published books. She has been an advocate for the inclusion of children with learning difficulties in mainstream schools. She is particularly committed to promoting the health and wellbeing of children and young people.