British children from 12 to 15 years of age are also invited to get a COVID-19 vaccine. The London government has adopted a unanimous recommendation from medical advisors that such a vaccination can help prevent disruption of education.
The UK’s top medical advisors in England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland (CMO) point out that if a significant proportion of school students are vaccinated, this can help prevent local outbreaks of Covid-19 in, inter alia, the winter months. This would make it easier to keep schools open. Minister of Health Sajid Javid is going along with this line of thought.
In July, the British vaccination committee (JCVI) advised not to vaccinate all children, as healthy children would have minimal benefit from vaccination, especially since they rarely get seriously ill.
The young teens’ vaccination campaign starts next week. They receive the vaccine from Pfizer / BioNTech. Vulnerable children in this age group were already eligible. In the US, Israel and some European countries, children aged 12 and over are already vaccinated.