England will offer 12-15 year olds to be vaccinated against Covid-19 as early as next week, the government announced on Monday evening, following the advice given by the chief doctors of the four nations of the United Kingdom (England , Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland).
The vaccination program will be carried out through schools as is already the case for other vaccines, with the consent of parents or officials, according to the Ministry of Health.
Read alsoVaccines: why London is torpedoing the French nugget Valneva
"I accepted the recommendation of the chief medical officers to extend the vaccination to 12-15 year olds,"
Health Minister Sajid Javid said in a statement, stressing that the public health service, the NHS,
"stands by ready to deploy the vaccine "
to this age group
" with the same sense of urgency that we had at every stage of our vaccination program ".
Local governments in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland will have to make their decision known. The recommendation of the chief doctors differs from the conclusions of the committee which oversees the vaccination campaign, raising fears of a reluctance on the part of families to apply it despite fears related to the recent return to school.
Three million eligible adolescents
It means that three million adolescents in this age group would be eligible in the UK to receive a first and unchanged dose of the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine.
The four British chief medical officers have also asked the committee to decide on the administration of a second dose to adolescents in this age group, when more data becomes available worldwide.
In their recommendation, they notably took into account the impact of the pandemic on the education of adolescents and stressed that vaccination could make it possible to
"reduce (but not eliminate) disruptions in education".
"We believe this is a useful additional tool to help reduce the impact on public health caused by disruptions in education,"
the Chief Medical Officer for England said at a press conference. , Professor Chris Whitty, assuring that the conclusions of the chief medical officers and those of the committee
"are not in conflict".
Despite concerns about the start of the new school year, the committee (JCVI) estimated 10 days ago that the benefit of extending vaccination to 12-15 year olds was marginal. The virus poses a low risk to healthy children, he said while recommending that the government seek further advice. Children over 12 years of age who have health problems making them vulnerable to Covid-19 are already eligible for vaccination, which is already open to all 16-17 year olds.
Many Western countries such as France or the United States have been vaccinating adolescents for several weeks and vaccination coverage in the United Kingdom seems to be stalling, after the campaign started at a beating pace last December. Since the start of the pandemic, more than 134,000 people have died in the UK within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19. The country, which has more than 66 million inhabitants, registers about 30,000 new cases per day. Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to present his plan to fight the virus for the winter on Tuesday, amid fears of a return this year of seasonal pathologies and strong pressure on the health system.
