Children under 12 years of age will no longer be eligible for a Covid-19 vaccine in the UK from this month onwards. An official UK Government document published last week pointed to the change, noting that the programme for vaccinating children aged five to 11 has now reached a cut off point.
In February of this year, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) in the UK decided that children between the ages of five and 11 could be vaccinated with a Covid vaccine.
A document published to the UK’s official Government website stated at the time stated that the current vaccine project for children aged five to 11-years-old was a “one-off pandemic response programme”. Only in a footnote did it point out at the time that there would be a cut-off point of 1 September, noting: “This one-off programme applies to those currently aged 5 to 11, including those who will turn 5 years of age by the end August 2022.”
Now, the information is included on page 25 of a 54-page report into Covid referred to as the ‘Green Book’, which is mostly read by medical professionals.
The document states: “This one-off programme applies to those aged 5 to 11 years, including those who turn five years of age before the end of August 2022”. The news of the roll-back of the UK’s Covid vaccination programme for young children is now being spotted by many who missed the information before.
Commentators have insisted that the advice has not changed, but very little appears to have been done to communicate the news of the cut-off point.
Professor Christina Pagel, of University College London, said: “The advice hasn’t changed but they stuck the time limit in a footnote. And clearly it has come as a surprise to parents”.
Gavin Dabrera, who is deputy director of Covid-19 vaccines and epidemiology at the UK Health Security Agency, commented on the development: “There has been no change to the offer of COVID-19 vaccinations for children aged 5-11 years. In February 2022, the JCVI [Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation] advised a one-off, non-urgent offer for children aged five to 11 years who were not in clinical risk groups,” he said.
“The JCVI continually reviews the UK’s Covid-19 vaccination programme, including the offer to five-to-11s, and any updates to its advice will be announced in due course.”
The ending of Britain’s childhood Covid vaccine programme follows months of controversy over the decision to start offering Covid jabs to children.
Last summer, a series of studies looked at hospital admissions and reported deaths across England which suggested COVID-19 deaths are “incredibly rare” among children, and that the virus carries a lower risk of dying or requiring intensive care among children and young people than was previously understood.
Nature reports that, in a series of preprints published on medRxiv1-3, a team of UK researchers found that Covid-19 was “very rarely fatal” in under-18 year olds, “even among those with underlying comorbidities.”
Last August, Dr. Martin Feeley, an Irish vascular surgeon, spoke to Gript on the issue of childhood vaccinations, highlighting his concern around “fast-tracked” Covid-19 vaccines.
In September 2021, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) told the British government that they were not recommending the widespread vaccination of healthy 12 to 15-year-olds against Covid-19. They said that “the margin of benefit is considered too small to support universal vaccination of healthy 12- to 15-year-olds at this time”.
At present, COVID-19 vaccination is available to children aged 5 and older in Ireland. This age group is currently offered a Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine with a smaller dose. The immunity they get is similar to the higher dose vaccine used in older age groups.