‘Give jabs in secondary schools if vaccine cleared for teens’

SCHOOLS COULD hold vaccination clinics for teenagers if Covid jabs for young people are given the go-ahead, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage) has suggested.

Professor Russell Viner, from University College London, who advises the Government, said there was not yet enough safety data to say jabs should happen, while the direct health benefit to children of being vaccinated was low.

But he said a schools-based programme would be the best choice if the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) decides vaccines should be given to youngsters.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) has approved the Pfizer/ BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for use among children aged 12 and over but the JCVI is yet to decide whether they should receive it.

Prof Viner told a briefing hosted by the Royal Society of Medicine that the risk of death from Covid-19 in this country for children and young people is about one in 0.5 million, and the great majority of those cases were clinically vulnerable.

“The risk of coming into intensive care, so having severe disease, is about one in 50,000 – these events are exceptionally rare,” he added.

“This is about the balance of risks. The benefits to them (children) of being vaccinated, are very low, the risks are unclear.”

He said there was published data from Pfizer regarding safety for around 3,000 teenagers, and a press release from Moderna suggesting safety, but with no published data.

“So we actually have very little safety data,” he said, adding that the “benefits to them (teenagers) in a direct sense in terms of health” are little, though there are benefits in terms of keeping education open.