By Victoria Mckeown-
PHE England has been asked to explain the contradiction that saw it demonstrate a remarkable U turn after stating that parental consent will be necessary for under aged kids in school to be vaccinated.
Following concerns raised by worried parents, the government department was contacted by this organisation two weeks ago, and asked for confirmation that Parental consent will be required for the vaccination of children under 16. Press representative Anthony White stated that it was incorrect that parental consent would not be necessary for the vaccination of children under 16.
However, the British government recently announced that where there is a disagreement between parent and child, a professional mediator would try to achieve a resolution, but where it can’t be achieved, the wishes of the child will prevail if they are deemed competent.
The qualification of competence is an interesting one that is suddenly thrown into the mix in the context of vaccination, but not other things like smoking or alcohol.
The importance of vaccination to improve the safety of society cannot be denied where it achieves greater resistance to either becoming infected or spreading the virus. However, operating a scheme that is insensitive to common sense or genuine concerns of reasonable parents begins to resemble a dictatorship that must be challenged.
The thought that children as young a 12 can be urged to take a vaccine their parents may have reservations about begins to raise suspicions in the minds of many people even if the protection provided by the vaccine were actually safe and helpful. It is still true that many sections of society are uncomfortable with the idea, making it the job of the government to tactfully and intelligently sell the idea, not act in a way that looks like odd and authouritarian.
Discussing the vaccine at an internal meeting in which a few professionals from outside this publication were invited, revealed just how divisive the topic is. There are those who welcome the vaccine, viewing it as the miracle cure we need to get over the pandemic, and we have those who are sceptical because of the speed with which the vaccine was produced.
Many parents are unhappy about the government’s decision to ignore their parental rights over under aged children, but some are quite happy with it.
Mother of two, Marcia Arnolds, 34 from Cambridge told The Eye Of Media.Com: ” I think it is terrible that the government will allow a 12 year old child decide whether he is vaccinated if their parent objects. This is setting a dangerous precedent in this country for children to think they can call the shots, especually on such an important matter. If as the govenment ay, children are less likely to fall seriously ill, and most people are vaccinated, why the big fuss of pushing the idea that hard in schools?
Offering children the opportunity to be vaccinated is not a bad thing, because it is a choice. But pushing so hard to the extent of risking tension between child and mother or father, is irresponsible of any government to do. It is bad enough that some children who don’t want to be vaccinated, could be ridiculed or bullied by children who opt to be vaccinated . It becomes almost crazy to suggest that where there is a dispute between parent and child, the child’s competence will be assessed in deciding whether they are vaccinated. How about the mother or father’s competence?
A different view was given by Venessa Peters . 61, a mother and grandmother- from Queens Park. She said: ” when we were young and we were offered the vaccine for measles and flu, there was never tis issue of parental consent, we just took the innocolation and that was it”.
Analyst, Christian Amos, said: ”I think the government is trying to completly minimise the risk of any future surge of Covid-19 by prioritising the sihes of children in this instance on a matter this serious. The problem with that is once you give children power over their parent’s wishes, it opens the door to potential influence of pressure on school children by their peers , or even teachers. It really should be a joint decision between parent and child, even if the child or the parent chooses to compromise their position for the other. It is an unhealthy idea for the government to completly take power from parents on such a controversial issue, and there really should be a consultation on matter like this.
The government has launched onsultations on many other issues, this is not one of those issues where it looks good on the government to just perform U turns and think it doesn’t matter. If The Eye Of Media have it writing that parental consent will be necessary befor veryyoung children are vaccinated, it needs to provide a good explanation why it has done a complete U turn on the matter. Has somebody influenced decisions at a higher level of government, or even higher than that? Even if so, it should be properly accountable, otherwise it could begin to be seen as farcical.”
Internet
Conspiracy theories on the internet in the past year hasn’t helped the government’s goal of maximising the vaccine roll out in the Uk, as it has put doubts in many people’s mind, but lots of people have ignored internet rumuors, and still taking the vaccine. A high percentage of the British public have been vaccinated, and those who choose not to be vaccinated should be allowed to make that choice, and make it for their children, unless the child strongly insists on wanting to be vaccinated. In such a case, the child is capable of persuading his or her parent to consent to being vaccinated.
Over 48 million people have had a first vaccine dose, and more than 44 million – 81% of over-16s – have had both doses. The latest PHE estimates suggest that 143,600 hospitalisations have been prevented in those aged 65 years and over in England as a result of the COVID-19 vaccination programme.
The statistics which looks like a fairly successful mission by the governemnt to achieve its goal of vaccinating the public hasn’t been considered enough. The Department Of Health is pushing for the vacination of children in line with other countries like the U.S and Israael, but the idea of bypassing parental consent has to be problematic when dealing with a government known for its U turns and some bad decisions.
The controversy surrounding the vaccine has mainly been sparked by inconsistent accounts about Covid deaths statistics which in the Uk, which opened the door to several theories and ideas that would have been totally ignored had the official story from the government and hospitals been without some of the contradictions the public have had to deal with.
When the government revised the method for registering Covid-19 deaths to just 28 days after a positive Covid test, officials said you could have got knocked over by a bus but had Covid put on the certificate. Those serious errors without any probe into why they occurred created a lot of scepticism , as many families came out to state that their loved ones had their death certificate wrongly diagnosed with Covid-19.
It wrongly influenced the view in some circles that the virus doesn’t exist, despite overwhelming evidence that it does. I suffered with the virus myself for over a month, but there was an editorial decision not to tell my story because of the suspicion that the mainstream media was engaging in fearmongering, either deliberately or under the pressure of the times.
The virus is real, and the idea of establishing protection against it is not a bad thing. The bad thing is when the government decides that it does not matter what mature and reasonable adults think about how it achieves that protection in some instances, and when government officials are either deceptive about their plans, or change their public statements so easily without any concern that it could affect confidence in their ability to govern those areas, or all areas.
The Departmnt of Health provided research to this publication that indicate the benefits of vaccinating children to protect them and prevent them spreading the virus, but it doesn’t explain why a child’s judgement should override that of their parent.
Deception And Contradiction
The British public have for decades complained about deception and contradiction by government representatives, one of the reasons a large section of the society do not trust politicians. The idea of telling the public one day that parental consent will be necessary for under aged children, then the next day say it won’t is very bad for public trust in the integrity of some of its policies, and gives the impression the government is either unsure of what it is doing, or happy to jsut change its durection without concern of gow this is viewed by the public.
Members of the public want a government that knows what it is doing, and can set out the reasons for its policies, without changing them like the weather, and excpecting mature members of the public to believe everything it says.
The debate or conversation as to whether parental consent is necessary is important, and should not be forced upon adults. That’s when people begin to entertain the idea of rebelling even more, when they conclude the government doesn’t care whether it is acting correctly.
PHE England was contacted about the U turn in its statement given to us about parental consent in relation to vaccinating children just over a week before the government announced that parental consent will not be necessary in all cases.
A spokesperson referred us to Nhs England, who have so far not addressed the U turn.
The silence gives the impression that the government is not confident about its own laws and guidance in this area, and calls for a review or wider discussion about the issue.