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Decision on whether to give children Covid jab 'will come this summer'

Document Cited in Related
Vincent
Published date01 April 2021
Date01 April 2021
Publication titleMyLondon (England)
Professor Adam Finn, from the University of Bristol and a member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation JCVI, said there had been “no problems so far” in the trial on teenagers using the AstraZeneca vaccine.

He said permission was expected to be granted shortly to recruit younger children from the age of five.

He told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: “Also, we are looking forward to studies in teenagers and also younger children with the Janssen vaccine, which we’ve been hearing about as another vaccine coming through for use, so quite a lot going on now in children.”

He said decisions on vaccinating children “will come later in the summer”, adding: “I think what we’ll be seeing really is the impact of the vaccine programme so far as we move down through the adult population, and forming an opinion as to whether it’s going to be necessary to immunise children as well in order to keep the virus under control.

“The important aspect of that for children is that we desperately want to keep schools open into the next academic year and avoid any further disruption to education.

“I think this would benefit children if it turns out to be necessary, but clearly, we don’t want to do this unless it is necessary, because it would be an additional difficulty, costs and so on.”

Professor Finn said whether to vaccinate children at all given they do not get seriously ill with coronavirus was “a really important question”.

He added: “One would not really be comfortable with immunising children entirely for the benefit of others and not for children.

“I think if it does look as though it’s necessary, that will be driven by the observation that the virus is still circulating and there’s jeopardy for children in terms of disruption to their education.

“I think that probably squares the circle if it does prove necessary.

“Of course there are children who do get sick when they experience COVID, but very small numbers, both from the sort of classic respiratory...

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