UK Minister: No decision yet on COVID-19 vaccines for healthy children

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Students attend a lesson at Weaverham High School as coronavirus disease blockade (COVID-19) begins to subside, in Cheshire, UK, on ​​March 9, 2021. REUTERS / Jason Cairnduff

  • The vaccine committee did not recommend shots for children under 16 years of age
  • Minister Zahawi: He will not determine the review by doctors in advance
  • Plans for the reinforcement program will begin in mid-September

LONDON, Sept. 5 (Reuters) – British Vaccine Minister Nadhim Zahawi said on Sunday that a decision had not yet been made on whether healthy children aged 12 to 15 should be vaccinated against COVID-19 , after reports that could be advanced start in the coming days.

On Friday, Britain’s Joint Vaccination and Vaccination Committee (JCVI) refused to recommend vaccines for children in this group, taking a precautionary approach due to a low risk of heart inflammation, but adding that the issue was finely balanced. Read more

The government is consulting medical advisers to seek advice on broader considerations, such as the impact on schools, and may still give its approval to a broad age group vaccination.

Some newspapers reported ministers ’confidence that medical chiefs would quickly roll back shots for healthy children aged 12 to 15, but Zahawi said the government would not prejudge the decision.

“No decision will be made until we receive news from the medical chiefs,” Zahawi told the BBC.

Children are already widely vaccinated in the United States, Israel and many European countries.

British officials have stressed that young people aged 12 to 15 who are vulnerable to COVID-19 are already eligible for vaccination, as are all people over the age of 16.

The four nations in the UK, which have recorded 133,000 deaths from COVID, control their own health policy, although they have all followed JCVI’s advice on vaccine deployment to date.

Zahawi confirmed that a vaccination test would be required in England for some important events from this end of the month, once two shots have been offered to all adults. Read more

He also said the government was still finalizing plans for a vaccine enhancement program after the JCVI interim council that could be needed for vulnerable and elderly people. Read more

“We’re very likely to start pushing these groups, because … I hope the interim becomes the final council, by the middle of this month,” he said.

Report by Alistair Smout Edited by Frances Kerry

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