Plans to give the Covid jab to children between the ages of 12 to 15-years old are set to start within weeks across the United Kingdom.
A mass inoculation programme is due to beginning in schools within two weeks, the Observer has been told.
It is believed that jabs for children will begin on 22 September. NHS leaders are understood to have been briefed on the plans after schools were told to be ready to introduce the programme.
The move follows the conclusion of a review by the chief medical officers (CMOs) of all four nations, led by Chris Whitty.
The news follows after last week, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said children would receive only marginal health benefits from a mass vaccination campaign, the body advised the government to look at “wider issues” including the impact of the virus on schooling.
Coronavirus jabs for healthy children aged between 12 and 15 are not being recommended by the UK’s vaccine advisory body the JCVI.
Efforts are already under way to recruit thousands of vaccinators for schools, and Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has previously said he “very much hopes” the under-16s could be vaccinated.
It is belived parental or carer consent will be sought before the jab is administered to children, however Dr David Strain told Sky News he believed there were 12-year-olds “mature enough” to decide to have the coronavirus jab without the consent of their legal guardians.
Dr Strain, who is senior clinical lecturer at the University of Exeter Medical School, said a school nurse or GP could assess whether a child is capable of consenting to having the vaccine, even if their parents were opposed to it.
On Sunday, Health Secretary Savid Javid said he would not push the chief medical officers for the advice but he has asked for schools to start preparing for the potental of a jab rollout.
Mr Javid told Sky News’s Trevor Phillips show: “We have been looking at that. I’m not in a position to make a final decision on it.
“I have received advice a week or so ago from the JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation), our committee of experts, their advice was that I should ask the chief medical officers of the UK, the four chief officers in the UK to take a look at not just the health aspects of vaccination but whether there were any broader reasons that it might be in the welfare of children, and that’s what I’ve done and they need to be given the time to look at this, and I will wait to see what they have to say.”
Asked when the chief medical officers will give their advice, Mr Javid said: “I’m not going to push them – they need to take their time. It’s independent advice, as it should be. They need to take their time.
“I don’t think they will be taking that much longer, but in the meantime I have asked the department to work with schools, the school vaccination teams, to start preparing, just in case we have a situation where their advice is to recommend it, and then if the Government accepts that then I just want to be able to go ahead with it.”
Editor-in-Chief | Carl D. Pearson has been involved in British politics and media from an early age, with the key knowledge of what it takes to run a news organisation for the 21st century. Mr Pearson, as Editor-in-chief, is responsible for supervising the daily tasks of publishing media and content to UNN’s website and various platforms.
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