The rollout of coronavirus vaccines is to be expanded to children aged between 12 and 15 who have underlying health conditions, it has been announced.
People in the 12-15 age group who are clinically vulnerable to Covid-19 or who live with adults who are at increased risk of serious illness from the virus are already eligible for a coronavirus vaccine and are being contacted by the NHS.
Covid vaccines will still not be offered to all over-12s in the UK after experts rejected mounting pressure to extend the jab rollout for kids.
But today, The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised that the programme should be expanded to include children with chronic major heart, lung, kidney, liver and neurological conditions.
Children with sickle cell disease or type 1 diabetes should also be invited for vaccinations, the JCVI said.
It means about 200,000 more children in the UK will be invited for vaccines.
However, the JCVI said it is not recommending mass vaccination of children aged between 12 and 15.
The decision comes exactly a week after the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed preparations were underway 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 they wanted to be "ready to hit the ground running".
Children who can get vaccinated against Covid include those with:
Chronic respiratory disease
Including those with poorly controlled asthma that requires continuous or repeated use of systemic steroids or with previous exacerbations requiring hospital admission, cystic fibrosis, ciliary dyskinesias and bronchopulmonary dysplasia
Chronic heart conditions
Haemodynamically significant congenital and acquired heart disease, or milder heart disease with other co-morbidity
Chronic conditions of the kidney, liver or digestive system
Including those associated with congenital malformations of the organs, metabolic disorders and neoplasms, and conditions such severe gastro-oesophageal reflux that may predispose to respiratory infection
Chronic neurological disease
This includes those with:
· Neuro-disability and/or neuromuscular disease including cerebral palsy, autism, epilepsy and muscular dystrophy.
· Hereditary and degenerative disease of the nervous system or muscles. or other conditions associated with hypoventilation.
· Severe or profound and multiple learning disabilities (PMLD), Down’s syndrome, those on the learning disability register,
· Neoplasm of the brain.
Endocrine disorders
Including diabetes mellitus, Addison’s and hypopituitary syndrome
Immunosuppression
Immunosuppression due to disease or treatment, including:
· Those undergoing chemotherapy or radiotherapy, solid organ transplant recipients, bone marrow or stem cell transplant recipients
· genetic disorders affecting the immune system (e.g. deficiencies of IRAK-4 or NEMO, complement disorder, SCID)
· those with haematological malignancy, including leukaemia and lymphoma
· those receiving immunosuppressive or immunomodulating biological therapy
· those treated with or likely to be treated with high or moderate dose corticosteroids
· those receiving any dose of non-biological oral immune modulating drugs e.g. methotrexate, azathioprine, 6-mercaptopurine or mycophenolate
· those with auto-immune diseases who may require long term immunosuppressive treatments
Asplenia or dysfunction of the spleen
Including hereditary spherocytosis, homozygous sickle cell disease and thalassemia major
Serious genetic abnormalities that affect a number of systems
Including mitochondrial disease and chromosomal abnormalities
