About time! Jabs for five to 11s start
THE mass rollout of Covid vaccines for five to 11-year-olds began yesterday.
They are going to 500,000 kids most at risk including those with diabetes and learning disabilities or who live with someone immuno-suppressed.
Family doctors have been compiling lists of those eligible and passing them on to NHS vaccine teams to make bookings in 850 GP surgeries or hospital hubs.
At one yesterday in Thames Ditton, Surrey, Xavier Aquilina, 11, said: “It is not as stressful as you may think. Everyone is quite nice and you get a sticker.”
His dad Joseph, 45, a neurodiversity consultant, welcomed the rollout but said: “It should have been done earlier.”
Children get a third of the adult dose – two 10 microgram jabs – of the Pfizer vaccine eight weeks apart.
Kids are being vaccinated globally – five million in the US alone.
More than 3.5 million 12 to 17-yearolds in the UK have had at least one dose, with over-16s getting boosters.
Dr Nikki Kanani, of the NHS vaccination programme, said: “It is important our youngest and most at-risk get protected. We are asking parents not to delay.”
One in 20 schoolchildren are now off sick or isolating. Any vulnerable child testing positive will not get jabbed until four weeks after they are clear.
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