UK children aged under 11 may soon get vaccine
BRITISH children under 11 may soon be offered the Covid-19 jab.
Last week pharmaceutical firm Pfizer received the green light from US regulators to use their vaccine on five to 11-year-olds.
Now they have applied to the EU’s European Medicines Agency, which could see primary schoolchildren across the continent given the jab.
If approved, that could mean a green light too from the UK regulator – the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA).
The programme may face opposition from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
A key member earlier this month stressed it is “far too early” to be considering vaccinating children aged 11 and under.
However, Jeremy Brown, professor of respiratory medicine at University College London Hospitals, said some youngsters may benefit.
He added: “I think there’s a case for using a vaccine on those children that have underlying diseases that make them more vulnerable to Covid, to having severe side-effects from the Covid infection.”
Last week the US Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) said five to 11-year-olds can receive an “age-appropriate dose” of the Pfizer/ BioNTech jab.
US President Joe Biden described the decision as a “turning point”.
He said: “It will allow parents to end months of anxious worrying about their kids and reduce the extent to which children spread the virus to others.
“It is a major step forward for our nation in our fight to defeat the virus.”
Pfizer’s study of 2,268 youngsters found the vaccine is nearly 91 per cent effective at preventing symptomatic Covid-19.
The US has seen more than 8,300 coronavirus-related hospitalisations of children aged between five and 11 and at least 94 deaths in that age group.
The JCVI said in September that children aged 12 to 15 with underlying health conditions should be offered a vaccine.
However, they refused to recommend the jab for healthy children in that age bracket, claiming most infections in that age group are “pretty mild”.
Professor Brown said that the greatest benefit of jabbing younger children is to “mainly protect” those in education “having to take time off school”.
Meanwhile, rival vaccine-maker Moderna is also studying the effectiveness of its own Covid-19 jab in primary school children.