A final decision on whether to vaccinate all 12- to 15-year-olds is expected within days, despite the government’s immunisation experts refusing to recommend jabs for healthy teenagers.
The UK’s chief medical officers, including England’s Prof Chris Whitty, are to consider further evidence after Sajid Javid and his counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland ordered a review that could defy the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) for the first time.
The health secretary said the advice from the CMOs would be considered “before making a decision shortly”.
The JCVI announced it was widening the Covid vaccination programme to more children aged between 12 and 15 with underlying health conditions, which means about 200,000 more children will be invited for vaccines.
But it is not recommending jabs for all healthy teenagers.
Professor Wei Shen Lim, the chair of Covid-19 immunisation for the JCVI, said: “The JCVI’s view is that overall, the health benefits from Covid-19 vaccination to healthy children aged 12 to 15 years are marginally greater than the potential harms.”
The decision came a week after the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed preparations were afoot to ensure the NHS was ready to offer coronavirus jabs to all 12- to 15-year-olds in England from early September.
The department said it wanted to be “ready to hit the ground running”.
