The councils of the United Kingdom contrast with the United States and Israel
LONDON – British vaccine advisers said they did not recommend vaccination against all children aged 12 to 15 against COVID-19, preferring a precautionary approach in healthy children due to a rare side effect of heart inflammation.
The advice could lead Britain to take a different approach to the United States, Israel and some European countries, which have deployed vaccinations to children more widely.
However, no final decision has been made, as the British government said it would consult medical advisers to examine other factors, such as school disruption.
Many politicians and some scientists have spoken out in favor of vaccinating more children out of concern that COVID-19 could spread to schools that reopen after the summer holidays, further disrupting education.
Britain has reported more than 133,000 deaths from COVID-19 and nearly 7 million cases, and while transmission between children can be high, they are rarely seriously ill with the disease.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) said on Friday that children with underlying conditions that put them most at risk for COVID-19 should be vaccinated.
For healthy children, there was still a small advantage in receiving the COVID-19 vaccine and counselors said the benefit-risk was “finely balanced.”
However, the JCVI said it wanted to learn more about the long-term effects of rare reports of heart inflammation, known as myocarditis, in young people after vaccination with the Pfizer shot.
Myocarditis is rare and usually mild, and patients usually recover within a few days.
“Of course, these vaccines work and would be beneficial for children in terms of preventing infections and diseases, but the number of serious cases we see of COVID in children of this age is really very small,” Adam said. Finn, a JCVI member, told Reuters.
“There are uncertainties about the long-term implications of (myocarditis), and that makes the risk-benefit balance for these children really tighter and much tighter than we would like to make the recommendation.”
The Minister of Health of the United Kingdom, Sajid Javid, who sets the policy of England, and his counterparts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, wrote to the Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) of the four nations to ask for more advice, “including educational impacts.”
“Given the importance of this issue, we would appreciate it if you could provide your advice as soon as possible,” the four Health Ministers said in a letter to the CMOs.
The JCVI is also expected to advise on a potential booster vaccine program for the elderly and vulnerable that could begin this month.
JCVI member Finn said there will be an update on the drivers “in the coming days.”
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