If you haven’t already received the vaccine update from your child’s school or heard of it from the news, the COVID-19 vaccine is now being given to children and adolescents aged 12 and above. While the vaccines have already been administered to children in their schools, there are several parents and medical professionals still calling to halt the vaccine rollout. There was even an initial conflict between the bodies advising and approving the vaccine.  

Here is where these groups stand on the child vaccination debate. 

Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) 

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is an independent committee of medical experts who advise the UK government and its health departments across England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland on immunisation and prevention of infectious disease. They review data on the impact of a disease, results from clinical trials, vaccine safety and efficacy, and the cost-effectiveness of the immunisation strategy.    

The JCVI has not recommended the vaccination of children aged 12 to 15 due to their low risk from the virus. Based on data from vaccinated teens in the USA, there are 60 cases of heart inflammation for every million fully vaccinated boys. The risk of the side effect is less in girls, with 8 cases every million.   

As of September 3, the JCVI has announced that it does not recommend universal COVID-19 vaccination for healthy 12 to 15-year-olds ‘at this time’. According to Professor Wei Shen Lim, Chair of COVID-19 Immunisation for the JCVI: “For otherwise healthy 12 to 15-year-old children, their risk of severe COVID-19 disease is small and, therefore, the potential for benefit from COVID-19 vaccination is also small.” 

Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) 

The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Authority (MHRA) is an executive department in the UK Government. It is the part of the Department of Health and Social Care responsible for regulating medicine and medical devices in the UK.   

The MHRA has approved the vaccination of adolescents. All children aged 12 to 15 years will be offered the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccination. The vaccines will be delivered in schools by the School-Aged Immunisation Service (SAIS). While parental consent is required, children deemed ‘competent’ by a healthcare professional can consent to receive the vaccine even if no consent from the parent has been provided.    

Pfizer has started clinical trials on young children to test the safety, tolerability, and immunogenicity of the vaccine in 3 age groups: 5 to 11-year-old age group, 2 to 5-year-old age group, 6-month to 2-year-old age group. Results of these clinical trials could potentially lead to the approval of the vaccine for use in younger children.    

Concerned Parents and Medical Experts 

With regulatory bodies disregarding recommendations from medical professionals, several groups and individuals have reached out and expressed their concerns against the vaccination of children.   

Doctors Michael Palmer MD, Sucharit Bhakdi MD, Stefan Hockertz PhD have presented Expert evidence regarding Comirnaty (Pfizer) COVID-19 mRNA Vaccine for children, an expert statement submitted to the European General Court in conjunction with a lawsuit that challenges the EU’s authorisation of the use of Pfizer’s mRNA vaccine on children of 12 years and older.  

Dr. Charles Hoffe has also explained his sentiments against the vaccination of children. Several other medical professionals have raised similar concerns on vaccinating children with an emergency COVID-19 vaccine.   

When you listen to experts in the medical industry, many have actively reached out to the MHRA through detailed open letters asking to halt the rollout of COVID-19 vaccinations to children.    

• Open letter by 60 Medics    
• Open letter by Dr Tess Lawrie from The Evidence Base Centre     
• Open letter by UK Medical Freedom Alliance    

You are not alone in caring for the health and safety for your children.    

Over 11,000 concerned parents, medics, scientists, and academics have signed an Open Letter by the UK parent group, UsForThem. The letter reaches out to the UK government, directly addressing Boris Johnson PM, Mark Drakeford FM, Nicola Sturgeon FM, Paul Givan MLA, and many others.    

Bringing further light into how the vaccine has affected people individually, the No More Silence group has created a platform where people around the world are able to share their personal stories and experience with the COVID-19 vaccine. Most of the people on the platform took the vaccine with the belief that they were doing what was right for their health and for the community.   

The group recognizes itself as a pro informed-choice, pro-consent, pro-science, and anti-coercion. Their aim is to shed light on the untold stories of the other side of COVID vaccination. They also hope to bring into question the reasoning behind the apparent censorship around negative COVID-19 vaccine news.  

The goal of becoming better educated on child vaccination during this COVID-19 pandemic is, ultimately, to help you make better-informed decisions for your children. As parents, you have the right to choose what is best for your children. You should be able to exercise your parental rights in making critical medical decisions for your children.   

While regulations and policies are set in place to protect the greater good of the community, confusion has stemmed from conflicts within and between the medical industry and regulatory boards. With the ongoing debate on child vaccination for COVID-19, you need to weigh the evidences presented on each side and assess whether the benefits of vaccination truly outweigh the risks. 

Children of today are the adults of tomorrow. 

However, with the threat of the ongoing pandemic, the future of this youngest generation seems to be getting bleaker by the minute. Their days are filled with fear and panic as the world continues to battle the chaos brought about by COVID-19. And their lives are left in limbo until the day comes that this corona virus pandemonium comes into a conclusion. 

It may seem like the children are kept out of harm’s way as the adult populace deal with this massive and global problem. Measures to mitigate and contain the spread of infection from one community to another are placed to safeguard everyone, especially the little ones. 

But are they really entirely spared from the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic? 

Let’s take a closer look. 

The goal for raising children is a universally-acknowledged one. We want to advocate for and promote positive development in them in all aspects. To do this, keeping their environment safe and sound is a top priority.  

As a natural response, we try and keep harmful bacteria and viruses from disrupting our children’s developing body systems. To a certain extent, we become absolutely wary of introducing foreign ingredients into their bloodstreams. And it is only logical for us to be skeptical, especially when proposed solutions have yet to undergo extensive evaluation processes, like treatments approved solely for emergency use. 

Sadly, as parents and caregivers struggle to achieve this already challenging goal, the impact of COVID-19 on children only makes things worse.  

In terms of the physical aspect of their health, children are on the receiving end of the following causes for concern: 

Uncertain risk for illness

 

At the start of the pandemic, the threat of the virus itself seemed to only affect the adult members of the population. As more and more people from this age group suffer from the novel corona virus, parents sighed a breath of relief, thinking that children were not included in its potential victims.  

But as the virus itself found a way to evolve and become easily transmissible, children were caught in the cross fire. They were soon dubbed as either symptomatic patients (those who exhibited the symptoms of the disease) or potential yet asymptomatic carriers (meaning those who can spread the virus to others without actually showing indications that they are ill). 

Eventually, children felt the direct effects (aka physical effects) of COVID-19. Some came down with mild infections, while others, especially those who are immunocompromised and/or with pre-existing co-morbidities, suffered from the severe form of the disease. There have been even reports of children experiencing what is now known as long COVID (i.e. a prolonged manifestation of the symptoms of the disease for about a month or two).  

But perhaps even more alarming is the seemingly lack of confidence on the child’s natural immunity. Despite voiced out arguments that believe in a healthy child’s ability to keep the infection at bay, authorities seem to lean in favor of other unnatural methods to protect children’s physical health. Even worse, it will take some time before we realize the effects these rushed countermeasures have on every child as responses are unique to each individual. 

Limiting lockdowns 

 

Lockdowns in response to the spread of COVID-19 have also affected the physical health of children. 

This is especially felt by children who belong to low-income families, where they have to isolate in cramped and/or unsanitary homes or spaces. Imagine trying to avoid contracting a disease and practice social-distancing in a community or home where it is physically-impossible to do so.  

 What’s even worse is what was already a reduced access to proper healthcare has turned into a totally disrupted delivery of services. Things such as sanitation and immunization programs have now become even more elusive to a percentage of children all over the world. And in an era where hygiene and stronger immune systems determine a child’s chances of survival, this is truly catastrophic. 

Similarly, children’s physical health stand to suffer in the form of malnutrition amidst the global pandemic. Mandated lockdowns and logistics restrictions affect not only the delivery of food and commodities. More importantly, these pandemic-induced policies stand to affect industries where the underprivileged families depend on. As a result, children in these households feel the dire consequences of a family having to cut back on expenses where, oftentimes, basic nutrition and medication are constant trade-offs. 

Loss of Physical activity 

 

The effect of government-mandated COVID-19 lockdowns have also exacerbated the growing problem of sedentary lifestyle among the youth.  

Time and again, it has been established and reiterated that physical activity in children is of utmost importance. Regardless if your child is a toddler who is just beginning to take his first steps, a preschooler/school-aged child in need of constant movement, or even an adolescent, no child is ever exempt for this aspect of growth and development. 

Several studies have looked into the physical activity levels of children during the pandemic and have reported significant decrease in movement and exercise among kids. Even worse, there seems to be an increased time spent in front of screens and gadgets, leading to unintended poor health habits such as sedentary behavior and imbalanced diet.  

This loss of physical activity may also affect a child’s ability to build a stronger immune system, seeing as studies also point to exercise and movement as effective modulators of the body’s line of defense. 

To conclude, the physical impact of COVID-19 in children is a problem that needs to be addressed in the most efficient and effective manner. To do this, we adults must do our part in making sure these little humans receive the best possible solution there is.  

We need to make sure that as we protect the society that adults live in, we are also giving enough premium to children’s welfare. This includes careful environmental assessments and more research in terms of what policies and treatments we subject our children to. We need to understand that there is still no substitute to a child’s natural immune system defense. And that having to comply with these imposed lockdowns to keep infections at bay results in loss of physical activity that has grave implications in the long run.  

When watching the news or reading about the latest updates on the media, most of what we see and hear is either about COVID-19 or the new vaccine. Most recently, it has been about COVID-19 vaccination for children in the UK; despite the constant highlight on the vaccine, there are apparent conflicts in the advices from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), two leading authorities in the use of vaccines for the UK masses.  

On one side, the JCVI has recommended against the use of COVID-19 vaccines for children and adolescents. As an independent body of medical experts, they exist to advise UK health departments on immunisation. The committee is not alone in its fears of implementing a vaccine with unknown long-term effects on growing children who, throughout the pandemic, have proven to be significantly more resilient than their adult counterparts. However, the MHRA has moved to approve and implement a COVID-19 vaccine rollout through a school-administered vaccination program for those above 12 years of age. 

As parents, the task to vaccinate our children may not be an easy one to follow.  

When the vaccines were made available for adults, the choice was made simple. Despite its emergency approval, the vaccine was quickly distributed across the country. Through mass vaccination programs, people were supposedly getting themselves protected. However, the message was clear: we need to build herd immunity. It became each person’s responsibility to protect themselves and the community.  

But, even with nearly 90% of the adult population becoming fully vaccinated, there has still been a third wave of COVID-19 cases. This year, daily cases are matching or even surpassing the numbers from before vaccines were given. In response, they are now giving booster shots to fortify people’s immunity.  

The benefit of being vaccinated is that it should help the body build immunity against the disease, create antibodies, improve your immune response, and effectively provide you with the protection you need. With the recent overwhelming cases of COVID-19, there have been several “breakthrough” cases that have brought the vaccine’s efficacy into question.  

Many medical professionals have advocated to pause the vaccine rollout to minors so people can properly assess the benefits and the risks of the vaccines. 

Vaccination For Children and Adolescents 

 

Through the recent vaccine rollout, children as young as 12 years old will be receiving their first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. While parental consent will be required, health professionals may administer a Gillick Competency test to determine whether a child can decide to get the vaccine even without parental consent.  

Critical medical decisions, such as the choice of taking an experimental vaccine, is a parental right and responsibility. However, kids may now have an opportunity to make their own decisions regarding this matter. 

Parents can still uphold their parental authority by informing and guiding their children. It is important that you let the school know of your position with regard to vaccination. But it is even more critical that you consider the risks of the vaccine itself against the risk of the disease before coming to any preformed conclusions. 

By analysing the benefit, cost, and risk of child vaccination, several recommendations from medical professionals and experts in the industry have advised against the immunisation of children, adolescents, and young adults. Dr. Ros Jones, a retired pediatrican and representative of the Health Advisory and Recovery Team (HART), has shared concern over the ethics of vaccinating children who are at low risk for COVID-19 when the potential late-onset effects from the vaccines have not been ruled out and could take an indefinite amount of time to become evident.  

Potential Risk of the Vaccine 

As a vaccine that has only been approved for emergency use, they have only undergone the minimum required clinical testing for approval. While clinical trials have proven that it is effective in building immunity against SARS-CoV-2, there have also been several cases of vaccinated people suffering from an array of side effects, ranging from minimal to critical.    

Following their recent vaccine rollout for adolescents in the US, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) advisory groups reviewed cases of myocarditis and pericarditis in adolescents and young adults after vaccination. They found that this inflammation of the heart can be linked to the COVID-19 vaccines.  

COVID-19 Risk in Children   

The disease risk for those under 20 is almost insignificant, with more children and adolescents recovering and experiencing minimal symptoms than becoming severely ill or dying from the disease.   

A review of child mortality in England during the COVID-19 pandemic has found that there has been no significant increase in child deaths during the pandemic. When comparing all-cause mortality and death from COVID-19 in children and adolescents below 18 years old, less than 0.3% of the child deaths during the pandemic were due to COVID-19.   

For children, the risk of being admitted to the ICU due to COVID-19 is 1 in 50,000.   

The risk of a child dying from COVID-19 is 1 in 2 million.   

For adults, seniors, and those with co-morbidities, the risk associated with COVID-19 has been shown to be extremely high. The risk of COVID-19 has led to WHO issuing a global pandemic where countries have implemented lockdown, social distancing measures, and several other restrictions to prevent the further spread of the disease.  

While the adult mortality rate of COVID-19 is high enough to warrant the emergency approval of a vaccine to promote herd immunity, the child mortality rate of COVID-19 is significantly lower. Coupled with the observed risks of the vaccine and a potential need for regular booster shots, the scale weighing the benefits and the risks of the vaccine should now guide you in the choices you make for the health and safety of your children. 

Wherever you look, you can definitely see and feel the impact of the pandemic. 

In response to tightened lockdowns and logistics restrictions, businesses and industries have been forced to close their doors. Healthcare systems and developing countries struggle to keep afloat when it comes to dealing with the rising number of infections and cases.  

Indeed, there is no doubt about the massive impact of COVID-19. And, mostly, a lot of eyes are fixated on the virus’ aftermath to adult lives.  

But we also have to remember the reason why we all continuously try to keep this world a safer and habitable place: our children. 

They are the ones who are seemingly underrepresented. They have no direct means to voice out how they feel about all the current global chaos. They are the vulnerable members of every community simply because they have relatively fewer years of existence in our society. 

So, what do we do? 

As parents and caregivers, we hold the innate responsibility in our hands to uphold their rights and to protect them in every manner we can. It is our duty to hear out their sentiments and fears. And we must model to them how we stand by a choice that is influenced by our own research and principles; not just bow down to mandated persuasion. 

They are, after all, the future generation of our entire populace. 

We can start by assessing and recognising that the impact of COVID-19 on children is very much real, too. 

Let’s list them one by one.

Physical impact

Perhaps the most tangible and obvious impact of COVID-19 on children’s lives is its threat to the physical aspect of their health. But unlike everyday pathogens which can run the risk of stunting their growth and development, the COVID-19 virus with all its accompanying rules and regulations, has a very different impact on children’s lives, compared with the very small number of young victims it claims.  

The virus’s most significant impact is the harm caused by virtue of its aftermath. Lockdowns and policies to keep children out of school and out of social places, whether temporary or for a longer period of time, limits their space for movement. This is especially difficult for the ones in the younger age range as their bodies need to constantly move and explore the environment they are living in. 

In a similar manner, the arrival of COVID-19 has a physical impact on our children, in terms of physiology. Where movements are deployed to challenge parental authority over their child’s vaccination, children’s bodies are exposed to the uncertain effects that accompany each vaccine dose. 

Emotional impact 

Just like adults, children also bear the emotional impact brought about by the pandemic. The consequences of missing out on socialisation with loved ones cannot be expressed by the sad emojis they get to send between screens and gadgets.   

There is a deep sadness in the actual loss of human touch and connection simply because they cannot hug or kiss other family members for fear of spreading infections. And perhaps even worse is having to carry the emotional pressure of getting vaccinated, thinking they need to step up to help adults in this fight.

Mental impact

Finally, as with any other aspect of their lives, children’s mental health also stands to face devastation in the pandemic presence of the coronavirus.  

Dealing with the physical and emotional burdens of COVID-19 can take a toll on a child’s mental well-being. The uncertainty of times, school closures, dangers of disease and death, can be too much to process for a mind that has yet to be prepared for the harsh realities of life. The pandemic leaves children with no choice but to deal with its devastating consequences all at the same time, leaving little to no room to take a breather and to cope. 

Humanity has faced a lot of global pandemics that have highly impacted people’s lives around the world. As a defence mechanism, scientists developed vaccines and drugs to help combat these viruses and diseases that have plagued the world throughout history. Despite being effective, there have been setbacks in the medicines and vaccines that were supposed to cure illnesses and conditions rather than damage the body further. One example of this was the Thalidomide tragedy.  

Thalidomide Tragedy  

During the 1950s, Thalidomide was developed in West Germany by the pharmaceutical company Chemie Grünenthal GmbH. Originally designed to combat nausea and morning sickness, healthcare professionals prescribed the drug to pregnant women who experienced such symptoms during pregnancy. The drug was virtually impossible for testing on animals but was still deemed safe for humans back then.  

Scientists and health professionals were unaware that the drug’s effects could be carried over to the unborn child through the placenta barrier, thus harming the fetus in the process. There were no clinical trials conducted for the drug on pregnant women due to the lack of awareness. Lack of clinical trials led to the drug being approved and available for over-the-counter purchase even without a doctor’s prescription.  

The drug was manufactured and distributed to other countries worldwide under different brand names such as Distaval, Tensival, Valgraine, and Asmaval. Although widely used worldwide, the US did not approve the marketing and distribution of Thalidomide. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) also rejected the drug due to a lack of testing and clinical evidence of safety. At one point, the distributing company even requested a pharmacologist to deny any nerve damage claims from patients who were long-term users of the drug.   

It wasn’t until the 1960s when scientists discovered that the drug had significant side effects such as causing congenital disabilities to the children of women who took the pill during pregnancy. Unfortunately, several infants died shortly after birth in what could have been a preventable tragedy. Those who survived grew up with missing limbs or underdeveloped organs and had to get prosthetics to live a normal life.    

Researchers were unable to quickly connect the drug to the side effects as it was already distributed under many names and in different countries. Warning statements from the UK government were not issued until 1962 – nearly a full decade since the drug had been in use. This significantly impacted the consumers, especially pregnant women, as thousands had already used the drug regularly and suffered severely from the side effects.  

Overall, the history of the drug changed the way the world sees it even after it was repurposed as a cure for leprosy and other cancers such as multiple myeloma.  

COVID-19 Vaccine: Emergency Approval  

The COVID-19 vaccination was approved for emergency use due to the sudden impact of the pandemic around the world. The FDA initially approved the vaccine for adults and the elderly. The main goal of governments around the world was to achieve complete herd immunity. It meant that the vaccine was to be administered to majority of the adults. Despite being a new vaccine with limited testing, the rollout of the vaccine around the world continued. Many countries have even mandated citizens to be fully vaccinated.  

It wasn’t long until researchers from the vaccine distributors wanted to roll out vaccination for individuals aged 18 and below. Although still starting on clinical trials, countries like the US and Canada have started administering the vaccine to children as young as 12 years old as most of the adult population in these countries have been fully vaccinated.  

Although approved for use in adolescents and children, it is still unclear whether the vaccine has long term side effects. At present, most countries are on a mid-rollout of the vaccine for children aged 12 to 17 years.   

Vaccinating Pregnant Women 

With the emergency use of the vaccine, pregnant women were no exception. Pregnant women were considered at high risk of being severely affected by COVID-19 and were highly encouraged to take the vaccine to ensure maximum safety and immunity against the virus.  

Much like the Thalidomide tragedy back in the 1950s, the COVID-19 vaccine has limited evidence of safety and effectiveness for pregnant women. This could mean that there are possibilities that the vaccine might cause adverse side effects on unborn children and may even harm the fetus in the process.  

Bottomline 

As we live in a time where we have advanced vastly in terms of research and development, we must learn from past mistakes. As parents, it is our responsibility to be better informed about the safety and effectiveness of the COVID-19 vaccine on children, even the unborn, before taking action.  

Be better informed by knowing your COVID-19 vaccination risk with our child vaccine safety quiz about the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine to help you make a sound decision for your children.  

With 367 million doses from seven vaccine developers and producers, the United Kingdom has one of the highest vaccination rates worldwide. Countries in the UK are just some countries that have placed orders long before the approval stage to secure early access. They even provided support to the research funding of the Oxford vaccine.  

As of October 30, 2021, almost 50 million people in the UK have been given the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, while 86.9% of people aged 12 and over have had their first jab. 45.7 million people in the UK received both doses of vaccines. Recently, the UK government’s vaccination strategies moved towards vaccinating younger school-aged students through school-based vaccine programs.  

Children in the UK are given their vaccines at school during school hours. Even children who do not go to schoolwill be offered a vaccine. Parents are given a letter or email to notify them when the vaccine will be offered to their children and ask for their consent. Meanwhile, if children miss their COVID-19 vaccination schedule, they will be offered again at a later date. So far, Pfizer-BioNTech is the only authorized vaccine for persons aged 12 to 17 years old.

Because children are more likely to follow the policies set by the school administration and be influenced by other children in their class who have been vaccinated, these children may receive jabs despite their hesitancies or even against their parent’s wishes. Since kids are easily influenced by their peers and do not want to be isolated from them, they tend to do what most of the people around them are doing; they will also want to get vaccinated if others are also vaccinated.  

An article published on inews in September says that rushing COVID vaccines for children, especially for those 12 to 15-years-olds could lead children to make decisions based on peer pressure. At that age, children are more likely to experience societal pressures with a longing to be fit in with their peers, leaving them susceptible to peer pressure. Those who are hesitant to get vaccinated can experience social deprivation and a lack of sense of belonging at their school.  

Meanwhile, according to the Vaccines Minister, Nadhim Zahawi, if parents disagree with the vaccines but a child is deemed competent, they will be able to overrule their parents in deciding based on a concept called Gillick competence. 

To further convince parents and children to get vaccinated, the government uses different strategies to promote child vaccination. There are millions of iconic cartoon characters that are equally liked and celebrated by both adults and children across the globe. Although they were originally meant to entertain kids, nowadays, cartoons have also been extensively used for various purposes, such as educating children and spreading awareness.  

One of the most popular cartoons at present is Peppa Pig; its popularity has skyrocketed since the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to stricter COVID-19 restrictions, average hours of screen time for children increased. Between February 2020 and February 2021, Peppa Pig became the second most in-demand cartoon in the US, behind SpongeBob SquarePants. Due to its popularity, a children’s book entitled “Peppa gets a Vaccination” was published in September 2021 – the same month the UK government started the vaccine rollout for children 12 years old and above.  

Aside from administering the vaccines in schools and promoting it through cartoons, governments are hiring youtubers or social media influencers to promote child vaccination through some of the most famous social media applications: Tiktok and Instagram.  

With over 680 million active users of Tiktok worldwide and 1 billion Instagram users monthly, Tiktok and Instagram have been widely used by people not only for personal use but also for different purposes such as products and campaign promotion. Vaccine-promoting organisations are actively developing strategies to take advantage of the number of social media users to promote child vaccination further. 

In times of crisis, the power of social media manifests in its ability to influence social act and behavior without bureaucratic mechanisms. In June 2021, several social media influencers including the popular health and science content creators, said that a supposedly UK-based PR agency offered them large sums of money to share false information on COVID-19 vaccines. The non-profit news platform Radio Liberty has alleged that a Russian marketing companies’ network is behind the said campaigns targeting high-profile social media personalities to spread misinformation.  

Given all the strategies mentioned above promoting COVID-19 vaccines to children and parents, many things may influence them to vaccinate. And with the current program that the UK government has, children can get vaccinated even without the consent of their parents. Hence, as a parent, it is important for you to stay vigilant in educating your children and guiding them.  

Before deciding whether to vaccinate your kids or not, it is important to do your research first to ensure that your kids are in good hands. You must take up the role of being both a parent and a teacher to protect your kids from harm. With so much information circulating online, learning the facts before making a decision is essential. Assessing your risk through this Child Vaccination Quiz will allow you to determine critical next steps in your decisions on vaccination. 

When cases of the new Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) were rising to inexplicably high rates, countries worldwide were quick to implement safety measures aimed towards preventing the spread of the disease. From wearing of face masks and face shields, implementing social distancing measures, and even enforcing lockdowns limiting people to stay inside their homes, there have been a myriad of safety controls put into place to prevent the further spread of the novel coronavirus.  

Globally, lockdowns forced people to stay inside; but with the need to resume activities to sustain the economy, protocols for the “new normal” were set in place. Alongside maintaining distance from people and wearing protective face masks were mandates for consistent hand washing or the use of hand sanitisers with at least 60% alcohol. According to the CDC, hand hygiene is one of the essential steps to avoid sickness and minimize the spread of the virus. Like most viruses, Coronavirus has an outer envelope which can be broken down by alcohol. Essentially, using alcohol-based solutions should kill the virus.  

As part of the new normal, hand sanitising stations are now a common sight in stores and other public areas. Before entering, people are required to check their temperature, sign in for contact tracing, and clean their hands with hand sanitisers. Even without these sanitising stations, the government has recommended people to bring and use their own alcohol-based sanitisers.  

According to a recent study in 2020, regular hand washing should be between 6 to 10 times a day to effectively reduce the risk of infection. This may seem like a lot but there has actually been a proven increase in how frequently people clean their hands. In August 2020, a poll reported that 78% of residents in the UK practised more frequent hand washing. Alcohol-based solutions have also increased in sales during the pandemic.  

How does Alcohol work? 

Active ingredients in alcohol-based hand sanitisers, rubs, cleansers, or disinfectants are usually isopropyl, ethanol, or a mixture of both. Ethyl alcohols, however, have been shown to be a more effective antiviral agent; whereas Isopropyl alcohols are better antibacterial agents.  

To be effective in killing pathogens, solutions must contain at least 60% alcohol, which is why medical grade alcohol-based sanitisers contain a minimum 70% alcohol. 

Risk of Using Alcohol-based Hand Sanitiser 

Against popular belief and the health reminders consistently shared by government and private companies alike, the use of alcohol-based solutions actually increases the risk of becoming susceptible to COVID-19. Dr Harley Farmer uncovers the hidden truths in his book: Coronoia: What the WHO failed to tell us and the UK Cabinet refused to hear. 

Dr Harley dives into the fact that alcohol is actually pro-COVID. Despite the widespread use of the substance to prevent the disease, Dr Harley Farmer unveils the links between alcohol vapours, respiratory mucosa, and SARS-CoV-2, explaining how anyone who uses alcohol-based products only makes themselves more vulnerable to disease. When people use rubbing alcohol, the alcohol vapours weaken the mucosal linings of respiratory passageways, making it easier for viral particles to attack cells in the lungs. By weakening one of the body’s initial physical immune defences, viral particles are able to enter into the lungs and infect the cells inside.  

The fact that alcohol vapours dissolve mucus has been proven since 1952. It weakens the mucosal layer that is supposed to keep the virus out. Dr Harley suggests that the widespread use of alcohol-based hand sanitisers has done the opposite of what it was expected to do. While the alcohol does kill the virus and other pathogens, it heightens the chance that someone who has already been exposed to the virus becomes sick.   

What Dr Harley proposes in his book is that the inherent properties of the novel coronavirus are not enough for it to be causing a worldwide pandemic. When you consider the lifecycle of the virus, people need not die for it to successfully spread and propagate. But, with over 5 million deaths due to COVID-19, the virus has exhibited a wide array of effects ranging from minimal to lethal. Some people are asymptomatic, others experience mild symptoms, and there are those who become critically ill and die. And the use of alcohol-based solutions may be a potential cause to the increasing number of people falling into the latter category. 

Dr Harley explains the COVID-19 Cascade that occurs when you or your child uses an alcohol sanitiser. Right after cleaning your hands and, supposedly ridding yourself of the virus, the alcohol will evaporate and you will most likely inhale the solvent alcohol vapours. The substance passes into your lungs, effectively weakening the mucus defences. When the coronavirus enters your lungs, it will enter your AT2 cells.  

The AT2 cells are secretory cells of the lungs. Because these cells are one of the first to become infected due to its outer positioning on the respiratory walls, the cells will now be reprogrammed by the viral RNA to make more of the virus inside your body and less of the protective mucus. These new viral particles will now infect adjacent AT2 cells, as well as other cells in your lungs. As more AT2 cells become infected, they create less mucus, further lessening your body’s natural defences. When most of your AT2 cells have been affected, you will most likely be experiencing the common flu-like symptoms of the virus, or even be at the point of death. This can take a few days, weeks, or even nearly a month, depending on how well your body is able to fight off the disease. 

Mass vaccination programs have been implemented to help both adults and children strengthen their immune system with an experimental vaccine. However, there are still a number of risks that come with the vaccine. And even with it, there is no guarantee of complete immunity from the disease. While these vaccines continue to be administered globally, alcohol-based hand sanitisers, disinfectants, and cleaning solutions continue to be used at a personal and commercial level. Despite the many things we try to do to keep ourselves healthy and safe, the very things that you believe to be protecting you may potentially be an eventual cause for your demise.  

In many schools, hand sanitising stations are situated on most entry ways. In some, teachers even guide students to clean their hands with the alcohol as a requirement before entering. With your new understanding of how alcohol actually works in favour of the disease, it may also start to become evident that allowing children to weaken protective barriers in their body, especially ones that are meant to naturally keep pathogens out, is actually a counterintuitive measure to protecting them. Instead, schools place an additional factor that puts them at risk just before they come into contact with more kids who are potential carriers of the virus themselves. 

With better information and a deeper understanding of medically proven facts, you should be able to prevent potential risks to you and your children’s health. Dr Harley provides an in-depth discussion on this topic in this NewGenne blog.