Staffordshire's COVID vaccination programme boss says all children should be jabbed
Dr Paddy Hannigan urges the most cautious approach to protect against any new and dangerous variants
The Clinical Lead for the COVID-19 Vaccination Programme in Staffordshire and Stoke-on-Trent tells Greatest Hits Radio News that the government should "really consider" extending their vaccination roll-out to all children under eighteen-years-old.
On Monday (19th July) the government announced that children aged between 12 and 15 who are medically vulnerable in England will be offered coronavirus vaccines.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that vulnerable young people at greatest risk from Covid-19 should get the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he had accepted the advice, which has ruled out mass vaccination of healthy children for now.
Head of Staffordshire's vaccine roll-out and local GP Dr Paddy Hannigan said:
"I think we really should be considering it.
"We're talking about the Delta variant now, but there will be more variants.
"The variants that we've seen have gradually become more transmissible and there is a potential that a future variant might be either more transmissible or more dangerous, and so I think we should be really cautious.
"I think we should be considering vaccinating children in due course, just because we don't know what's around the corner. This virus has had a really huge effect and it would be really awful to think that our children could be exposed to a new variant in the future that they weren't vaccinated against. So I think we really should considering it."
Which 12-15-year-olds will get a vaccine?
The move means thousands of children in the UK aged 12 to 15 with the following conditions can access the vaccine: severe neuro-disabilities, Down’s syndrome, immunosuppression, multiple or severe learning disabilities.
Other conditions, including type 1 diabetes, are not currently included in the list.
Under existing guidance, young people aged 16 to 17 with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious Covid should have already been offered a jab.
The JCVI has also said those aged 12 to 17 who live with an immunosuppressed person, such as a parent or grandparent, should be offered a Covid vaccine.
Which COVID jab will under 15s receive?
Vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi told the Commons:
“As we do this we will be using the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, which is the only vaccine in the UK that has been clinically authorised for people between the ages of 12 and 17.
“I know that people will have questions about what it means for them and their children, but I can assure them that nobody needs to come forward at this stage. The NHS will get in touch with them at the right time and they will make sure that the jabs are delivered in a setting that meets their complex needs.”
NHS asked to prepare vaccines for new age groups
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said:
“I have asked the NHS to prepare to vaccinate those eligible as soon as possible.
“Young people aged 12 to 15 with severe neuro-disabilities, Down’s Syndrome, immunosuppression and multiple or severe learning disabilities, as well as people who are household contacts of individuals who are immunosuppressed, will be eligible for vaccination soon.
“Our independent medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, has approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine for people aged 12 and over as it meets their robust standards of safety, effectiveness and quality.
“Today’s advice does not recommend vaccinating under-18s without underlying health conditions at this point in time. But the JCVI will continue to review new data, and consider whether to recommend vaccinating under-18s without underlying health conditions at a future date.
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