Experts urged to keep rollout to all children under review
EXPERTS are being urged to keep the idea of jabs for children under close review amid fears over the impact of long Covid.
Scotland’s top doctor will write to the UK’s main advisory body on vaccines, calling on it to consider the benefits of inoculating all over-12s.
Nicola Sturgeon said it was ‘extremely important’ that the rollout of vaccines to all teenagers was not ruled out.
The First Minister said chief medical officer Dr Gregor Smith will be writing to the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), which ruled out mass vaccination of healthy children in advice issued on Monday.
Miss Sturgeon said: ‘The Scottish Government has always followed the advice of the JCVI... but I am acutely aware that some other countries are vaccinating younger teenagers and I certainly consider it to be extremely important that this is not ruled out here.
‘So to that end, the chief medical officer is writing to the JCVI asking that the benefit of vaccinating all 12 to 17-year-olds is kept under close and ongoing review, and that it takes account of all available data from countries already doing this.
‘If there is a benefit to be got from vaccinating younger teenagers then it’s really important that we make sure younger people don’t lose out on that.’
She said that the issues must be kept under ‘really close ongoing review and not kicked in any way into the long grass’. She added: ‘The JCVI is the body that advises on these things. I think it is really important that politicians like me don’t overturn the decisions of the experts on these things.
‘But equally I want to be sure that we are reaching the right decisions on these things.
‘Some countries are vaccinating young people and therefore – not only but particularly because of long Covid – I think it is something that we must not rule out and must continue to look at the evidence on.’
Dr Nicola Steedman, the deputy chief medical officer, said: ‘One of the issues about long Covid is that we don’t know enough about it yet. What we do know is that it seems to be less common in younger people and children, and the severe effects of Covid are also less common in younger people and children, so the potential benefits of any vaccine to young people who are otherwise fit and healthy are obviously much less than those of us who are older.
‘There are, of course, potential risks with vaccination as there are with any treatment, some of which appear to be more common in younger people, such as pericarditis and myocarditis (inflammation of the sac around the heart or the heart muscle).
‘So it’s that really difficult balance of risks and benefits that the JCVI has had to do to come to the conclusion that they have for the time being.
‘That is the important thing: the JCVI has been very clear in their statement and in their discussion that this advice is for now and for the UK context and they are looking all the time at evidence that is coming forward, both on the benefits of vaccination for younger people and also those risks, and if ever the evidence comes that that risk/benefit balance has changed, I’m sure their advice will change also.’
Following the publication of JCVI guidance, the Scottish Government confirmed it would extend the vaccine to 12 to 15 year olds with Down’s syn
‘Make sure young don’t lose out’ ‘Potential risks with vaccination’
drome, severe neuro-disabilities or underlying conditions that mean their immune systems are suppressed.
In addition, 12 to 15-year-olds with severe learning disabilities will also be eligible, as will 12 to 17-year-olds who are household contacts of people with suppressed immune systems.
But officials were unable to confirm how many children would be offered jabs as a result of the changes, even though the UK Government has been able to confirm that 370,000 of the 12.7million children in England will become eligible.
A Scottish Government spokesman said: ‘We are looking to understand the figure given by the UK Government and will provide a figure for Scotland once our own estimates have been established.’