England will offer the COVID vaccine to all young people aged 12 to 15

LONDON, Sept. 13 (Reuters) – All 12- to 15-year-olds in England will be offered a COVID-19 vaccine after top medical advisers said on Monday that children would benefit from a reduced abortion. education.

The British government confirmed that the offer would be extended to all children aged 12 to 15 following a unanimous recommendation from the Chief Medical Officers (CMOs) of the four nations in the UK.

“I have accepted the recommendation of the medical chiefs to extend vaccination to people aged 12 to 15: to protect young people from COVID-19 capture, reduce transmission in schools and keep students in the classroom,” he said Health Minister Sajid Javid in a statement.

The cohort launch in England will begin next week. Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland established their own health policy, although each decentralized administration received the same advice from their respective CMOs.

The CMO recommended that children aged 12 to 15 in Britain receive a first vaccine from the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) decided earlier this month not to make the recommendation.

Children will be offered the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. Vulnerable children in the age range were already eligible to receive the shots.

The United States, Israel and some European countries have deployed vaccines to children more widely, pressuring the British government to continue the same.

There have been more than 134,000 deaths from COVID-19 in Britain and the implementation of vaccination has begun quickly, with 81% of those over the age of 16 receiving two doses of vaccine.

The JCVI had previously said the decision to vaccinate children was “finely balanced” as the government asked for more advice on the issue.

The CMOs in a letter said that vaccination of children could reduce the transmission of COVID-19 and therefore disruption to schools, and that these benefits “generally provide a sufficient additional advantage … to recommend in favor of vaccinate this group “.

“(Vaccination) will reduce educational disruption,” Chris Whitty, a chief English doctor, said in a briefing.

“We don’t believe it’s a panacea, there’s no silver bullet … but we believe it’s an important and potentially useful additional tool to help reduce the public health impacts that occur due to disruption. educational “.

The CMOs said the second doses would not be offered to the age group at least until spring, as they would expect more data from around the world.

Reports by Alistair Smout and Michael Holden; edited by Jonathan Oatis and Grant McCool

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