Now Government expert says it IS OK to give young teenagers the jab
Amid confusion over vaccination of 12 to 15-year-
SCIENTISTS have backed jabbing 12 to 15-year-olds to prevent classroom disruption, amid mounting opposition from cross-party MPs.
Professor John Edmunds, who sits on the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), said yesterday that the decision to extend the jab to all children in that age group should take into consideration the ‘wider effect Covid might have on children and their education and developmental achievements’.
He warned there could be ‘a lot of disruption’ to children’s education as he estimated that around six million children have not contracted coronavirus.
Ministers have been pushing for all 12 to 15-year-olds to be included in the vaccine rollout.
However, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) last week advised against doing so and only
‘There will be huge disruption to schools in coming months’
approved widening of the vaccination programme to children in that age group with underlying health conditions.
The UK’s four chief medical officers are now reviewing the wider benefits of extending the rollout to over-12s, following a request from Health Secretary Sajid Javid to look at the matter ‘from a broader perspective’.
Speaking on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Prof Edmunds said: ‘It’s difficult to say how many children haven’t been infected but it’s probably about half of them, that’s about six million children, so that’s a long way to go if we allow infection just to run through the population.
‘That’s a lot of children who will be infected and that will be a lot of disruption to schools in the coming months.’
It comes as a growing number of Conservative MPs, as well as some Labour and Liberal Democrats, are expected to voice their concerns over the plans in Parliament once it returns from recess this week.
Sir Graham Brady, the senior Tory MP who chairs the party’s influential 1922 Committee, said:
‘The JCVI has done a serious job of looking at it from a health point of view.
‘It would be wrong to make any decision based on anything other than the child’s own interest.’
Last night, a senior Conservative MP criticised Government scientists who do media rounds and ‘confuse’ public messaging over vaccines.
The MP said: ‘The scientists are all over the place on this.’
The Tory called for members of Sage to be banned from giving personal opinions on radio and television, adding that Government advisers had become ‘media tarts’ and were failing to deliver a clear public message.
The MP said anyone who sits on Sage should be bound by ‘collective responsibility’ and should only give the official line, not personal views – and those who wish to give regular media appearances should quit their Sage posts.
A Government source said: ‘Scientists are entitled to provide their view.’
The four chief medical officers are expected to present their findings to Ministers this week, with Government sources saying they are confident that the rollout extension can begin soon after.
The Department of Health and Social Care has already confirmed that preparations were under way to ensure that the NHS rollout could be expanded in England this month.
The Government has said that parental consent will be sought if the jabs are extended to all 12 to 15-year-olds, as in other school immunisation programmes.
Last week, Gavin Williamson, the Education Secretary, said that he felt parents would find it ‘deeply reassuring’ to have a choice of whether their children should be vaccinated.
He added that many hoped the country would be in a position ‘of being able to roll out vaccinations for those who are under the age of 16’.
Former chief scientific adviser Professor Sir Mark Walport yesterday said children’s health was ‘also affected by their social environment, by their ability to go to school, by what happens in the family and so there are broader factors as well’.
On concerns over potential side effects of rolling out the jabs to all 12 to 15-year-olds, he said: ‘All the evidence is the rate of myocarditis, the inflammation of the heart muscle, and of pericarditis, is at least the same and probably significantly higher in that same population group if they get coronavirus.’
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, supported the Government’s position: ‘ If the guidance is this will reduce the disruption for all those young people, yes, we will absolutely back that.
‘The Government is right on this – we have to look at the broader picture.’