I assume that was a typo - it's the vaccines that are safe (though the virus is not exactly a massive deal for younger people)
I have corrected the post; you're right my point was the vaccines are safe. But yes it's also true that the risk from natural infection reduces drastically in kids, so it may be that we don't go down that path.
Pfizer is reportedly seeking approval to allow a third booster dose (presumably due to the UK government considering offering the most vulnerable a third dose in September)
If we are going to do boosters, it really ought to be a different type of vaccine to the original vaccine given, in my opinion as this seems more likely to enable a broader immune response. Also if the boosters have been tweaked, based on the latest research and the latest iterations of the virus, then that's another aspect to consider.
I'm not convinced boosters are actually needed though.
if this happens I wonder if the vaccine will then be given every year to vulnerable patients in the same way as the annual flu vaccine
I would be extremely surprised to see this happen for several reasons.
Coronaviruses mutate at a much slower rate than influenza viruses.
Also, do bear in mind there is only one strain of Sars-CoV-2, which is in stark contrast to influenza, which has multiple strains.
The first strain of influenza which you encounter will remain the strain against which you are best protected. Each strain is constantly mutating at a fast rate and it is difficult to predict which strain may dominate in any given flu season.
I think one or two boosters
may be needed, but possibly only in more vulnerable/older groups, but the extent to which this is desirable depends on all sorts of factors which we may not know the answer to at present.
(possibly altered to confer immunity against new variants)
Vaccines remain highly effective in protecting against severe symptoms with all variants.
The immune response attacks multiple parts of the spike protein. The idea that the spike protein can mutate so much as to to evade this response is not deemed credible by any of the virologists or immunologists I've been listening to (I take no notice of fear-mongers such as Eric Ding).
The media likes to talk about a particular amino acid change in a variant that "evades" antibodies, but this isn't going to stop the vaccines working. Indeed T-cells are widely believed to be key to fighting this virus, and I've seen no evidence to suggest the T-cell epitopes are changing.
Variants are hyped up, and vaccines are put down, by people who want indefinite restrictions.