LONDON (AP) – Britain decided on Monday to follow other countries by offering coronavirus vaccines to children aged 12 and over, as the government was betting that extended vaccination and mild adjustments to social behavior could avoid the need for blockages in the winter.
Vaccinations for children and booster vaccines for at-risk adults are part of a “toolkit” to control COVID-19 infections this fall and winter that Prime Minister Boris Johnson will announce at a news conference on Tuesday. .
On Monday, medical chiefs in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland recommended that children aged 12 to 15 receive a single dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine, although government vaccine advisers said this but the step would only be marginal. health benefits.
Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi said the government had accepted the recommendation and would start vaccinations next week.
Other countries (including the United States, Canada, France, and Italy) already offer coronavirus vaccines to children 12 and older, but Britain has resisted. It is currently inoculating people aged 16 and over, almost 90% of those eligible have had at least one dose of vaccine.
Earlier this month, Britain’s Joint Vaccination and Vaccination Committee said vaccines should be given to children aged 12 to 15 with underlying health conditions. But he did not support the implementation of healthy children, who are at low risk for serious illness from the virus, saying the direct health benefits were marginal.
However, he said there could be broader social factors to consider, such as education or children acting as sources of transmission to more vulnerable groups.
Leading medical officers said Monday that vaccination would help limit the transmission of the virus to schools and help children’s mental health by reducing education disruption.
English medical director Chris Whitty said vaccinating children was “an important and potentially useful additional tool” in the fight against the virus.
But he said it had not been an “obvious decision at the barn door” and it was appropriate “that it took people longer to get there and make sure we looked at all the different elements to do it right”.
Children will initially receive a single dose of vaccine through their schools. The UK has not yet decided whether to give them a second dose.
The Johnson Conservative government expects widespread vaccines, rather than restrictions, to keep COVID-19 infections under control during the colder months, when respiratory viruses spread more easily.
The announcement of a new virus roadmap comes a year after Johnson resisted scientific advice to close the country, only to make a change of direction in a few weeks as coronavirus cases skyrocketed.
Virus cases are now ten times the rate of a year ago, but vaccines protect many Britons from serious illness. However, the UK records more than 100 coronavirus deaths a day and more than 8,000 people are hospitalized with COVID-19. That’s less than a quarter of the winter peak, but the number is rising.
Johnson is expected to say the rules on mask use, work from home and social distances that rose in July could return if cases escalate further.
But his Conservative government is reluctant to take tougher action, hoping for a plan to introduce vaccine passports for nightclubs and other crowded venues.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said on Sunday that the vaccines, which have been introduced in many European countries and would start in England in late September, were a “huge intrusion into people’s lives”. He said the government would keep the plan “in reserve” but would not follow it at this time.
Some experts have advocated vaccine passports as a way to encourage young people to get vaccinated, while others say a compelling vaccination, rather than encouraging it, could increase hesitation. Many in the entertainment industry opposed the measure as a heavy imposition and rallied political resistance on the grounds of civil liberties of some conservative lawmakers and opposition Liberal Democrats.
The government’s decision on the vaccine passport applies to England. Scotland, which is setting its own health policy, plans to introduce the requirement for crowded places next month.
Johnson will also announce Tuesday that the government will relinquish some of the emergency powers Parliament gave it after the pandemic began last year, including the authority to close businesses and schools, restrict meetings and detain infectious people.
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