When deciding whether it is a good idea to attempt general vaccination of a population, you would weigh the benefits against the risks. Because risks of interventions are always non-zero (nothing is perfectly safe), there is some margin of benefit required in order for benefit to decisively outweigh the risks.
An example is from Sweden, where there is only weak rationale for general seasonal (non-pandemic) flu vaccination in pregnant women:
At very bottom-middle, you can see that the determination of the number of flu vaccinations needed in order to prevent one flu hospitalization in pregnant women exceeds 1900 (the number needed to vaccinate, NNV, is over 1900).
When you have to subject over 1900 pregnant women to the risks of adverse effects in order to prevent a single flu hospitalization, then it isn’t worth the risk. But let’s compare that to the number of COVID shots that CDC says is needed in order to prevent a single hospitalization in kids of age 12 to 17:
Note that the situation gets worse over time (less get “protected” as time goes on). The best-case for that age group is that a million COVID shots would prevent just 95 hospitalizations. When put in terms of the number-needed-to-vaccinate (NNV), that turns out to be ( 1,000,000/95 = ) 10,526.
Considering their experimental nature, the medical evidence strongly suggests that kids in general should not receive COVID shots. Subjecting over 10,000 kids to the risk of adverse effects — just so that you could possibly prevent one single COVID hospitalization — is asinine.
And for anyone under age 50, the best-case NNV for preventing hospitalization which you can expect is ( 1,000,000/414= ) 2,415.
Using CDC’s own estimates, there is no evidence of any strong rationale for general administration of COVID shots for those under age 50. If reported age groups went higher, it is also likely that no strong rationale exists for those over age 50, either.
Given existing risks and benefits, COVID shots should be withdrawn.
Reference
[With pregnant women in Sweden, flu shots have weak rationale] — Hanna Merk, Gunnar Nylén, Sharon Kühlmann-Berenzon, Annika Linde, Number needed to vaccinate to prevent hospitalizations of pregnant women due to inter-pandemic influenza in Sweden, 2003–2009, Vaccine, Volume 32, Issue 52, 2014, Pages 7135-7140, ISSN 0264-410X, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.vaccine.2014.10.027. (https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0264410X14014029)
[With kids, it takes more than 10,000 COVID shots to prevent a single hospitalization, according to CDC] — Updated COVID-19 Vaccine Recommendations are Now Available. September 12, 2023, 9:00 PM EDT. https://www.cdc.gov/respiratory-viruses/whats-new/covid-vaccine-recommendations-9-12-2023.html