Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation, which also announced an expansion of the booster program to some teenagers, will now recommend vaccines only for children under 330,000.
This applies to those who are in a clinical risk category or who live in a household with no immunosuppressed person. They will receive two doses of Pfizer vaccine with an eight-week gap.
Although the recommendations of the JCVI are UK-wide, it is up to each country to decide whether or not to accept them.
Ministers consider vaccines for primary-age children an important part of preventing Covid infections in winter. However, it is unlikely that any general rollout of vaccines will begin before January or later.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency in the UK (MHRA) has approved that the Pfizer vaccine can be used by children of any age. It will now be administered in 10-microgram doses instead of the 30-microgram dose for adults.
According to the MHRA, the Pfizer jab was safe for younger children and had minimal side effects, other than mild soreness in the arms.
The JCVI’s role in balancing the impact of vaccination against the notably smaller risks posed by Covid by children younger than their age is clear. Omicron virus rapid spread has complicated the process.
The JCVI will consider data before making a decision. It will look at how much Omicron protection a course of two jabs provides, as well as whether natural immunity seen in children younger than 40 years old to Covid can be used to avoid this variant.
The decision to give jabs to children aged 5-11 years is being re-evaluated by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation. This was done in the midst of further data and analysis, including the Omicron variant.
The JCVI also announced that booster vaccinations should be offered to children aged 16-17, 12-15, and 15-15 years old who are part of a clinical risk group or live in a household with an immunosuppressed person. It will also recommend the introduction of booster vaccines for those who are severely immunocompromised, who have had a second primary dose, and to 12- to 15 year-olds who are immunocompromised.
As with adults, this should occur no later than three months following the last dose.
Professor Wei Shen Lim is the chair of the JCVI’s Covid Panel. He stated that “the majority of children aged 5-11 are at very low risk for serious illness because of Covid-19. Some children aged five to eleven years old have underlying medical conditions that could put them at greater risk. We recommend these children be vaccinated as soon as possible.
The best way to administer the small doses of vaccine to younger children is a major problem in a larger rollout.
In September, the JCVI recommended that children aged 12-15 years old be given the vaccine, as long as they return to school after summer break. They should be given a second dose.
The frustration felt by government was that the JCVI’s expert couldn’t reach a consensus earlier on vaccinating secondary school students, allowing a rollout during the holidays.
Scientists have called for an all-encompassing rollout of children’s education to keep schools open in January, and minimize disruption to the teaching process.
Deepti Gurdasani is a senior lecturer at Queen Mary University of London and a clinical epidemiologist. She stated to the Guardian that schooling wouldn’t be possible next year if the vaccination program was not extended to primary school-age children.
She stated that there has been no discussion about how to protect children in January, when schools reopen. “The US has vaccinated five million children. The EMA [European Medicines Agency] approved, FDA (US Food and Drug Administration) approved, but there is no word from MHRA [the UK regulator], which is quite remarkable.”
Some medical experts are concerned about whether vaccinations should be given to children, who often experience Covid as mild illness. This is to protect the larger population.
Contrary to the UK, which cautions against vaccinating children younger than five years old, the FDA recommends that they be vaccinated in the US. This is late October.
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