opposed opinions with Covid vaccination for children under 16

Several members of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) said the mainstream sentiment on the body is still extremely cautious about expanding the programm to 12- to 15-year-olds, even though a deputy chief medical officer has suggested that outcome is highly probable and politicians have said they would like the issue to remain under review.

The JCVI recommended on Wednesday that all over-16s be offered jabs, just two weeks after saying children should not routinely be given Covid vaccinations. The U-turn provoked alarm at what was described as a “shambolic” vaccine rollout for older teenagers, with doctors saying they were being “left in the dark” about the details of the rollout to younger people.

Jonathan Van-Tam, a deputy chief medical officer, has said it was “more likely than less likely” that the list of eligible children would be broadened. However, one expert who remains a member of the JCVI said the overriding opinion of the body was still against expanding vaccinations to 12- to 15-year-olds and argued that the committee was more likely to recommend removing categories of vulnerable children who are currently offered vaccines.

A JCVI spokesperson said: ‘The JCVI is a group of independent experts who discuss the latest available evidence to reach decisions on how to best use Covid-19 vaccines to protect the public. The main JCVI committee has provided all advice and recommendations to ministers on Covid-19 vaccines. The committee is united in its efforts to reach a consensus in order to provide robust advice to ministers on how best to continue preventing hospitalisation and deaths from Covid-19.” 

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