Children will only be jabbed if vulnerable
Ministers decide against mass vaccination for teenagers on advice of scientists
BRITAIN has opted against mass Covid19 vaccinations for all children and teenagers, with ministers instead preparing to offer the jabs just to vulnerable 12 to 15-year-olds and those about to turn 18, The Sunday Telegraph can disclose.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is believed to have advised ministers against the rollout of vaccines to all children until further evidence is available on the risks.
Instead, under guidance due to be issued tomorrow, jabs will be offered to children aged between 12 and 15 who are deemed vulnerable to Covid-19, or who live with adults who are immuno-suppressed or otherwise at severe risk from the disease. Vaccines will also now be offered to all 17-year-olds who are within three months of their 18th birthday.
The move is at odds with decisions taken in countries such as the US, Israel and France, where children over the age of 12 are being routinely vaccinated.
Teaching unions had pushed for all young people to be offered a vaccine to help minimise further disruption to education after three lockdowns. However, the JCVI’s advice is expected to echo recommendations by Germany’s vaccine commission, Stiko, which said last month only children with pre-existing conditions should be given a vaccine.
Ministers plan to announce the move tomorrow, after months of deliberation by the JCVI. A source said the committee would keep the possibility of vaccinating all children “under review”.
Teenagers aged 16 who are deemed vulnerable to Covid are already eligible for vaccines as part of group six of the vaccine rollout, which applies to adults aged 16 to 65 in an “at-risk group”.
Patients’ groups and MPs were briefed on the plans last week by Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister.
The disclosure comes ahead of the lifting of many Covid-19 restrictions tomorrow, and as the Department of Health announced that every adult in the UK had now been offered a first dose of a Covid-19 vaccine – ahead of Boris Johnson’s target date of July 19. More than two thirds (68 per cent) of adults have now received two doses. Officials said that every adult now had the opportunity to have both doses by mid-September.
The NHS is now preparing to roll out the vaccine imminently to 12 to 15-yearolds with underlying health conditions and those living with vulnerable adults. They will be offered the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which was approved for use in this age group by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency last month.
Yesterday, Prof Sarah Gilbert, one of the scientists behind the AstraZeneca vaccine, said the benefits of vaccinating children were “much lower and poorer” than inoculating adults. She added: “With still a limited number of doses available to vaccinate the world, we should use those doses for health care
workers and for older individuals in countries that don’t yet have a vaccine.”
The UK decision is understood to have been made on a “risk-benefit” analysis based on protecting children rather than a calculation taking into account excess supplies that the country could ship for use in adults abroad.
Adults aged 16-65 deemed to be at risk include patients with blood cancer, diabetes, severe asthma, kidney disease, and lowered immunity due to disease or treatment.
An NHS spokesman said: “Since the start of the NHS Covid vaccination programme, the NHS has followed JCVI guidance on delivering vaccinations to the population in England.
“If the JCVI updates its guidance, the NHS will act swiftly to reflect any changes and will continue to deliver Covid jabs to those eligible as quickly as possible, as it has done after previous updates.”
US regulators authorised the Pfizer vaccine for use in children as young as 12 in May, prompting Jeremy Hunt, the UK former health secretary, to say it was “time to look at vaccinating over12s” in order to “protect schools” and keep them open.
Data from Public Health England show the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is 96 per cent effective against hospitalisations and the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine is 92 per cent effective after two doses. Analysis by PHE and the University of Cambridge suggests that vaccines have already prevented an estimated 11.8 million infections and almost 37,000 deaths in England alone.