Risks and side effects of vaccines: The US CDC lists several of them, but based on the list I don’t see age-specific statements. What they say here is:
Cases of myocarditis (inflammation of the heart muscle) and pericarditis (inflammation of the outer lining of the heart) have been reported after Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination of children ages 12–17 years. These reactions are rare; in one study, the risk of myocarditis after the second dose of Pfizer-BioNTech in the week following vaccination was around 54 cases per million doses administered to males ages 12–17 years.
In general, adolescents ages 12 through 17 years have a higher risk for myocarditis than children ages 5 through 11 years. During clinical trials, no cases of myocarditis occurred in children ages 5 through 11 years who received the COVID-19 vaccine.
Okay, so the myocarditis risk seems to be below 54 cases per million (~0.005%). This is hard to judge because they don’t mention the backgound risk in the population of this age group.
A German government website lists vaccine effects like headache: 76% and says this is from the study testing the vaccine for 12-15 year old teenagers. Well, maybe. The study for younger children lists effects as follows:
“Injection-site pain was the most common local reaction, occurring in 71 to 74% of BNT162b2 recipients. Severe injection-site pain after the first or second dose was reported in 0.6% of BNT162b2 recipients and in no placebo recipients. Fatigue and headache were the most frequently reported systemic events. Severe fatigue (0.9%), headache (0.3%), chills (0.1%), and muscle pain (0.1%) were also reported after the first or second dose of BNT162b2. Frequencies of fatigue, headache, and chills were similar among BNT162b2 and placebo recipients after the first dose and were more frequent among BNT162b2 recipients than among placebo recipients after the second dose. In general, systemic events were reported more often after the second dose of BNT162b2 than after the first dose. Fever occurred in 8.3% of BNT162b2 recipients after the first or second dose. Use of an antipyretic among BNT162b2 recipients was more frequent after the second dose than after the first dose. One BNT162b2 recipient had a temperature of 40.0°C (104°F) 2 days after the second dose; antipyretics were used, and the fever resolved the next day.”
An illustration from the German newspaper Zeit.de (which says it is based on FDA data) compares control group and placebo group, and it seems that the risk for fever, fatigue, headache, chills, vomiting, pain, joint pain are indeed relevant. At the moment I’d say it all comes down to comparing relatively high probabilities of minor side effects to low probabilities of major effects of Covid. But note that the study is so small that it would overlook small-probability effects.
2)
Risks and side effects of vaccines: The US CDC lists several of them, but based on the list I don’t see age-specific statements. What they say here is:
Okay, so the myocarditis risk seems to be below 54 cases per million (~0.005%). This is hard to judge because they don’t mention the backgound risk in the population of this age group.
A German government website lists vaccine effects like headache: 76% and says this is from the study testing the vaccine for 12-15 year old teenagers. Well, maybe. The study for younger children lists effects as follows:
“Injection-site pain was the most common local reaction, occurring in 71 to 74% of BNT162b2 recipients. Severe injection-site pain after the first or second dose was reported in 0.6% of BNT162b2 recipients and in no placebo recipients. Fatigue and headache were the most frequently reported systemic events. Severe fatigue (0.9%), headache (0.3%), chills (0.1%), and muscle pain (0.1%) were also reported after the first or second dose of BNT162b2. Frequencies of fatigue, headache, and chills were similar among BNT162b2 and placebo recipients after the first dose and were more frequent among BNT162b2 recipients than among placebo recipients after the second dose. In general, systemic events were reported more often after the second dose of BNT162b2 than after the first dose. Fever occurred in 8.3% of BNT162b2 recipients after the first or second dose. Use of an antipyretic among BNT162b2 recipients was more frequent after the second dose than after the first dose. One BNT162b2 recipient had a temperature of 40.0°C (104°F) 2 days after the second dose; antipyretics were used, and the fever resolved the next day.”
An illustration from the German newspaper Zeit.de (which says it is based on FDA data) compares control group and placebo group, and it seems that the risk for fever, fatigue, headache, chills, vomiting, pain, joint pain are indeed relevant. At the moment I’d say it all comes down to comparing relatively high probabilities of minor side effects to low probabilities of major effects of Covid. But note that the study is so small that it would overlook small-probability effects.