Covid-19: England will offer 12-15 year olds to be vaccinated

 While the committee (JCVI) had estimated 10 days ago that the benefit of extending vaccination of COVID-19  to 12-15-year-olds was marginal, the vaccination strategy is taking a new turn in England. Indeed, England will offer 12-15-year-olds to be vaccinated against Covid-19 next week after the opinion given by the chief medical doctors of the four nations of the United Kingdom.

English people aged 12-15 will be able to get vaccinated against Covid-19

England will offer 12-15-year-olds to be vaccinated against Covid-19 next week. This was announced Monday evening by the government after following the advice of the chief medical officers of the four nations of the United Kingdom (England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland). As stated by Health Minister Sajid Javid, the vaccination programme will be done in schools with the consent of parents or caregivers. The Minister for Health also said that the public health service, the NHS, "stands ready to deploy the vaccine with the same sense of urgency that we have had at every stage of our vaccination programme". 

Three million adolescents eligible to receive a single dose

Until then, only English children over the age of 12 with health problems as well as 16-17-year-olds could be vaccinated against Covid-19. Now, three million adolescents between the ages of 12 and 15 are eligible for vaccination in the UK. However, for the time being, they will only be able to receive one dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Indeed, the four British chief medical doctors have asked the committee to decide on the administration of a second dose to adolescents at this age, when there is more scientific data available in the world. 

Reducing disruption in teaching

In their recommendation, the chief medical doctors explained that they had taken into account the impact of the pandemic on the education of adolescents. That's why they explained that vaccination can reduce disruption in education as the Chief Medical Officer for England, Professor Chris Whitty, told a conference: "We think it's a useful additional tool to help reduce the public health impact of disruptions in education."