Press release: CCAG urges pause to roll-out for children and young people

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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

London: 12.00, Monday 14th February 2022

  • CCAG invites government advisers to urgent meeting and review
  • Latest data shows Pfizer vaccine increases risk of omicron infection 
  • New ONS data indicates 2-3 excess deaths per week of teenage boys, correlating with vaccine rollout
  • Roll-out to children is therefore all risk and no benefit

The Children’s Covid Advisory Group (CCAG) has written to the government’s advisory body on vaccination, the JCVI, and the UK’s Chief Medical Officers, to request an urgent meeting and an immediate pause to the roll-out of covid vaccines to children, pending the results of a public inquiry.

The request comes in light of new evidence of a safety signal in young males suggesting increasing fatalities that has not been investigated by regulators.

In the context of new evidence from the Health Security Agency that the covid vaccine recipients are at a greater risk of infection with omicron than the unvaccinated, the CCAG writes “the time has come to pause and acknowledge there is no emergency for children.”

Meanwhile, “on the risk side of the balance sheet,” the group reports a catalogue of new data from around the world that shows the risks of serious adverse reactions are shockingly high, particularly among boys. Data from Hong Kong showed 1 in 2680 boys aged 12-17 developing myocarditis after their second Pfizer shot, a potentially life-threatening inflammation of the heart muscle and they have moved to a single dose regime.  Also “very worrying” report from the CDC on 5- to 11-year-olds, showed 100 children with “serious adverse events”, including myocarditis, seizures and death. “This in itself, is a reason to review,” wrote the group. 

The group notes that members wrote to the government’s advisers and the regulator, the MHRA, in January, requesting an urgent investigation of the acknowledged increase in all-cause mortality in males aged 15-19 since the Pfizer covid vaccine rollout began for them in May 2021. “It is very disappointing not to have received any response”, they wrote. 

The group requests that the government’s advisers conduct a review of “the risk/benefit analysis, without delay”; and to cease any further roll-out pending the results of that review. 

Dr Ros Jones, retired paediatrician and convener of the CCAG, said: “In the context of a temporary use authorisation, the utmost care is required to identify any safety signals quickly, the precautionary principle must apply, and an immediate pause be implemented. In the face of omicron, this vaccine offers children all risk and no benefit. 

“That means a single vaccine injury or death in a child would be inexcusable. And yet the possibility that there might already be a hidden number of adolescent deaths is unconscionable. The balance of evidence favours natural immunity. It’s time to pause the roll-out.”

She added: “If the current situation had existed six months ago, there would have been no case made for commencing routine rollout for healthy children. What we are witnessing is a form of medical apathy and political path dependency. Our children deserve better. Now, at a time when it is proposed that even those testing positive for omicron do not need to isolate, we are continuing to put children at risk with a vaccine they simply do not need.”

Professor Angus Dalgleish of St Georges Hospital, London said: “”It is vital that as the facts change, the advice does accordingly. Covid is no more a problem in children than other childhood respiratory diseases and yet the data continue to confirm that more young people are suffering serious cardiac damage than can ever be justified. I myself know of two such cases which used to be the definition of common”

This is the second letter the JCVI has received in recent days urging for the child covid vaccine roll-out to be paused. On Thursday 10 February, a separate group of 30 MPs, doctors and scientists, wrote that “we find it genuinely remarkable that, given the prior JCVI concerns, formal studies have not been put in place during the rollout in these age groups with acknowledged limited benefit and significant knowledge gaps regarding safety.”

About the CCAG

The Children’s Covid Advisory Group comprises a wide number of health professionals and scientists including several of the country’s leading professors in medicine, microbiology and risk, as well as specialists in public health, emergency medicine, paediatrics, infectious disease and primary care. They include:

  1. Dr Rosamond Jones, MBBS, MD, FRCPCH, retired consultant paediatrician, convener CCVAG (Children’s Covid Vaccines Advisory Group)
  2. Professor Keith Willison, PhD, Professor of Chemical Biology, Imperial, London
  3. Professor David Livermore, BSc, PhD, Professor of Medical Microbiology, University of East Anglia
  4. Professor Anthony J Brookes, Professor of Genomics and Health Data Science, University of Leicester
  5. Professor Richard Ennos, MA, PhD. Honorary Professorial Fellow, University of Edinburgh
  6. Professor Angus Dalgleish, MD, FRCP, FRACP, FRCPath, FMed Sci, Professor of Oncology, St Georges Hospital, London
  7. Professor John Fairclough FRCS FFSEM retired Honorary Consultant Surgeon 
  8. Professor Norman Fenton, CEng, CMath, PhD, FBCS, MIET, Professor of Risk Information Management, Queen Mary University of London
  9. Professor Anthony Fryer, PhD FRCPath, Professor of Clinical Biochemistry
  10. Lord Moonie,  MBChB, MRCPsych, MFCM, MSc, House of Lords, former parliamentary under-secretary of state 2001-2003, former consultant in Public Health Medicine
  11. Dr Theresa Lawrie, MBBCh, PhD, Director, Evidence-Based Medicine Consultancy Ltd, Bath
  12. Dr John Flack, BPharm, PhD. Retired Director of Safety Evaluation, Beecham Pharmaceuticals 
  13. 1980-1989 and Senior Vice-president for Drug Discovery 1990-92 SmithKline Beecham 
  14. Dr Roland Salmon, MB BS, MRCGP, FFPH, Former Director, Communicable Disease Surveillance Centre Wales
  15. Dr Alan Mordue, MBChB, FFPH. Retired Consultant in Public Health Medicine & Epidemiology
  16. Dr Gerry Quinn, PhD. Postdoctoral researcher in microbiology and immunology
  17. Katherine MacGilchrist, BSc (Hons), MSc, CEO/Systematic Review Director, Epidemica Ltd.
  18. Mr James Royle, MBChB, FRCS, MMedEd, Colorectal surgeon 
  19. Dr Livia Tossici-Bolt, PhD, Clinical Scientist
  20. Dr Elizabeth Evans MA(Cantab), MBBS, DRCOG, Retired Doctor
  21. Dr Rohaan Seth, Bsc (hons), MBChB (hons), MRCGP, Retired General Practitioner
  22. Dr Emma Brierly, MRCGP, General Practitioner
  23. Dr Geoffrey Maidment, MD, FRCP, retired consultant physician
  24. Mr Malcolm Loudon, MBChB, MD, FRCSEd, FRCS(Gen Surg), MIHM,VR, Consultant Surgeon
  25. Dr Alan Black, MBBS, MSc, DipPharmMed, retired pharmaceutical physician
  26. Dr David Cartland, MBChB, BMedSci, General practitioner
  27. Dr Peter Chan, BM, MRCS, MRCGP, NLP, General Practitioner, Functional medicine practitioner 
  28. Dr Greta Mushet, MBChB, MRCPsych, retired Consultant Psychiatrist in Psychotherapy
  29. Dr Samuel McBride, MBBCh, BAO, BSc, MSc, MRCP (UK) FRCEM, FRCP (Edinburgh), NHS Emergency Medicine & geriatrics
  30. Mr Ian F Comaish, MA, BM BCh, FRCOphth, FRANZCO, Consultant ophthalmologist
  31. Dr Branko Latinkic, BSc, PhD, Reader in Biosciences
  32. Dr Helen Westwood MBChB MRCGP DCH DRCOG, General Practitioner
  33. Michael Cockayne, MSc, PGDip, SCPHNOH, BA, RN, Occupational Health Practitioner
  34. Mr Anthony Hinton, MBChB, FRCS, Consultant ENT surgeon, London
  35. Dr Tanya Klymenko, PhD, FHEA, FIBMS, Senior lecturer in Biomedical Sciences
  36. Michael Cockayne, MSc, PGDip, SCPHNOH, BA, RN, Occupational Health Practitioner
  37. Dr Carmen Wheatley, DPhil, Orthomolecular Oncology
  38. Dr Charles Lane OBE, Molecular Biologist
  39. Mr Angus Robertson BSc (Med. Sci.) MB ChB  FRCS(Ed) FFSEM(UK) Consultant Orthopaedic Surgeon
  40. Dr Michael D Bell, MBChB MRCGP Retired General Practitioner
  41. Dr Jayne LM Donegan, MBBS, DRCOG, DCH, DFFP, MRCGP, General Practitioner
  42. Dr David Critchley, BSc, PhD in Pharmacology, 32 years’ experience in Pharmaceutical R&D
  43. Dr Keith Johnson, BA, D.Phil (Oxon), IP Consultant for Diagnostic Testing
  44. Julie Annakin, RN, Immunisation Specialist Nurse
  45. Rev Dr William J U Philip MB ChB, MRCP, BD, Senior Minister The Tron Church, Glasgow, formerly physician specialising in cardiology
  46. Dr Jonathan Rogers MBChB (Bristol) MRCGP DRCOG Retired NHS General Practitioner
  47. Dr Pauline Jones, MB BS, Retired General Practitioner
  48. Dr Emma Brierly, MBBS, MRCGP, General Practitioner
  49. Dr Elizabeth Burton, MB ChB, Retired General Practitioner
  50. Dr Franziska Meuschel, MD, ND, PhD, LFHom, BSEM, Nutritional, Environmental and Integrated Medicine
  51. Dr Michael Bazlinton, MBCHB MRCGP DCH
  52. Dr Holly Young, BSc, MBChB, MRCP, Consultant Palliative Care Medicine
  53. Dr Julian Tomkinson, MBChB, MRCGP, General Practitioner, GP Trainer, PCME
  54. Dr David Bramble, MBChB, MRCPsych, MD, Consultant Psychiatrist
  55. Dr Christina Peers, MBBS, DRCOG, DFSRH, FFSRH, Menopause Specialist
  56. Dr Chris Newton, PhD, Biochemist working in immuno-metabolism
  57. Dr Christopher Exley, PhD, FRSB, Bioinoganic Chemist
  58. Dr Sarah Myhill, MBBS, Retired General Practitioner
  59. Jessica Righart, Senior Critical Care Scientist
  60. Dr Michael D Bell, MBChB, MRCGP, retired General Practitioner
  61. Dr Angharad Powell, MBChB, General Practitioner
  62. Dr Stephen Ting, MB CHB, MRCP, PhD, Consultant Physician
  63. Mr Ahmad K Malik, FRCS (Tr & Orth), Dip Med Sport, Consultant Trauma & Orthopaedic Surgeon
  64. Dr Catherine Hatton, MBChB, General Practitioner 
  65. Dr Kulvinder S. Manik MBChB, MRCGP, MA(Cantab), LLM, Gray’s Inn
  66. Dr Stefanie Williams, MD, Dermatologist
  67. Kim Bull, Foundation Degree in Paramedic Science, Paramedic
  68. Margaret Moss, MA (Cantab), CBiol, MRSB, Director, The Nutrition and Allergy Clinic, Cheshire
  69. Dr Haleema Sheikh, MRCGP, General Practitioner
  70. James Cook, NHS Registered Nurse, Bachelor of Nursing (Hons), Master of Public Health (MPH)
  71. Dr Jonathan Engler, MBChB, LlB (Hons), DipPharmMed
  72. Dr Clare Craig, BMBCh, FRCPath, Pathologist
  73. Dr David Bell, MBBS, PhD, FRCP(UK), Public Health Physician
  74. Dr Ruth Wilde, MB BCh, MRCEM, AFMCP, Integrative & Functional Medicine Doctor
  75. John Collis, RN, Specialist Nurse Practitioner
  76. Dr Damien Downing, MBBS, MRSB, private physician
  77. Mr Lasantha Wijesinghe, FRCS, Consultant Vascular Surgeon
  78. Dr Claire Mottram, BSc Hons, MBChB, General Practitioner
  79. Dr Ali Haggett, Mental health community work, 3rd sector, former lecturer in the history of medicine 
  80. Dr Jenny Goodman, MA, MBChB, Ecological Medicine
  81. Suzanne Tomkinson BSc MSc CSci FIBMS Senior Biomedical Scientist (Clinical Biochemistry)
  82. Dr Felicity Lillingstone, IMD DHS PhD ANP, Doctor, Urgent Care, Research Fellow 
  83. Dr Marco Chiesa, MD, FRCPsych, Consultant Psychiatrist & Visiting Professor, UCL
  84. Anna Phillips, RSCN, BSc Hons, Clinical Lead Trainer Clinical Systems (Paediatric Intensive Care)
  85. Dr Jason Lester, MRCP, FRCR, Consultant Clinical Oncologist
  86. Dr Sue de Lacy MBBS MRCGP AFMCP UK Integrative Medicine Doctor
  87. Dr David Morris, MBChB, MRCP (UK), General Practitioner
  88. Dr Andrew Isaac, MB BCh, Physician, retired
  89. Dr Renee Hoenderkamp, General Practitioner
  90. Dr Noel Thomas, MA, MBChB, DObsRCOG, DTM&H, MFHom, Retired Doctor
  91. Dr Fiona Martindale, MBChB, MRCGP, General Practitioner in out of hours
  92. Dr Zac Cox, BDS, LCPH, Dental Practitioner
  93. Mr Colin Natali, BSc(hons) MBBS, FRCS (Orth), Consultant Spinal Surgeon

The letter can be found in full, here.

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