Covid vaccines could be offered to primary school children as young as five years old due to fears that kids are driving up the number of cases in the UK.
According to new leaked documents, the NHS is reportedly planning to rollout jabs to children as young as five, if the plan is approved by health regulators.
The documents also showed that parental consent will be needed for kids aged between five and 11 years old, and the environment in which they receive their jabs will need to be "appropriate".
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The Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is expected to announce that jabs are safe for children, while the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is currently examining whether to recommend vaccines for kids.
Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi has previously not ruled out vaccinating primary school aged children, but said that there was "no plan at the moment" to extend the jabs rollout to younger children.
He told Sky News' Trevor Phillips On Sunday: "There is no plan at the moment to vaccinate primary school children for the reason that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is still looking at the evidence as to what level of protection it would offer those children."
He added: "The most important thing is to boost the most vulnerable - that is absolutely the priority."
Mr Zahawi also said he would do "everything in my power" to keep schools open - but could not rule out future closures stating, "We are absolutely working to make sure that all schools are open, that they're protected."
He confirmed that the JCVI are currently looking at the evidence as to what level of protection Covid-19 vaccines would offer primary school children.
Over the summer, SAGE experts warned that children were driving adult infections around the country.
There have already been reports of cases of the new Omicron variant in schools, including in Kent.
In September, NHS England began rolling out vaccines for children aged between 12 and 15 years old.
Now, health officials could go even further and offer jabs to younger kids, with a decision likely to be made in the coming weeks, according to The Sunday Times.
Under existing rules, vaccines are administered by the school immunisation service, with heads responsible for ensuring parents and children get information leaflets, consent forms and invitation letters.
Parents are asked to give consent, although some older children are able to overrule their parents if they are deemed competent to make their own decisions. This is unlikely to occur in very young children.
Earlier this week, Professor John Edmunds, a member of Sage, called for jabs to be rolled out to five to 11-year-olds as soon as a licence is given.
He said: "This wave of the epidemic that we’ve had since June — the Delta wave — has been driven really by school-age children.
"Every child who is infected will expose an adult. They all live at home with adults. So from that, transmission can occur."
The European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the use of the Pfizer vaccine for children aged 12-15 in May and for children aged five to 11 in November.
Due to the fast spread of the new Omicron variant, booster jabs will be available to millions more people in England this week.
The national booking system will open to everyone aged 30 to 39 from Monday so they can make appointments to get a booster three months on from their second coronavirus jab.
The move comes amid concerns the UK is facing a major wave of infections in January, with scientists warning up to 75,000 people could die of Covid-19 in the next five months if further restrictions are not introduced.
The scientists, who advise the Government, said the new Covid-19 strain could cause between 25,000 to 75,000 deaths in England over the next five months.
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