Babies and children under the age of 5 are to be offered the COVID-19 vaccine for the first time, UK health authorities have announced.
On Thursday, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised that clinically vulnerable children aged 6 months to 4 years old should be offered the jab.
The committee does not currently advise vaccination of children aged 6 months to 4 years if they are not in a vulnerable group.
It means 57,000 children will be offered two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, with an interval of 8 to 12 weeks between the first and second doses.
The JCVI added that further advice regarding a potential third 3-microgram dose of the vaccine will be issued “in due course.”
NHS England confirmed it will begin offering vaccinations to those eligible in England from mid-June.
‘Very Low Risk of Harm’
Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said that “children are at very low risk of harm from COVID.”“However, there are a very small number of children with health conditions which make them particularly vulnerable, and for those children, we want to give parents the choice as to whether they wish to vaccinate their at-risk child or not,” he added.
“I have accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on vaccinating children aged from 6 months to 4 years who are in a clinical risk group. It is a parental decision, and this advice is simply to enable parents of children with medical conditions to choose if they wish to have the protection,” said Barclay.
‘The Virus Is Not Going Away’
Professor Wei Shen Lim, chairman of the JCVI’s COVID-19 committee, said: “For the vast majority of infants and children, COVID-19 causes only mild symptoms, or sometimes no symptoms.“However, for a small group of children with preexisting health conditions it can lead to more serious illness and, for them, vaccination is the best way to increase their protection.”
Dr. Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at the UKHSA, said: “COVID-19 is still in circulation, with thousands of new cases reported every week.
“The extra protection offered by the vaccine could be important for young children in clinical risk groups, who are at greater risk of severe illness.
COVID-19 Vaccination
Last September, authorities wound down COVID-19 jabs for children aged 5–11, except for those in clinical risk groups, as they said the offer was only applicable to children who recently turned 5 years old.At the time, in line with previous plans, the UKHSA confirmed that children who had not turned 5 by the end of August were not offered a routine COVID-19 vaccination.