The UK’s four chief medical officers have announced their recommendation to the Government to immediately extend the offer of a Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine to all children and young people aged 12-15 not already covered by existing Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advice.
Healthy school-aged children aged 12 to 15 will primarily receive their Covid-19 vaccination in their school. Vaccination healthcare staff will require parental, guardian or carer consent in line with existing school vaccination programmes.
The School Aged Immunisation Service (SAIS), which is part of Nottinghamshire Healthcare NHS Foundation Trust, will lead the programme across the whole county. Unlike adults, children aged 12-15 will initially only receive one jab, with the possibility of a second dose in the spring school term or later.
In addition, the Covid-19 vaccination offer has been open for several weeks to 16-17 year olds and they can take up the offer of a jab and walk into a vaccination site without an appointment. People aged 12 years and over who are severely immunosuppressed are also being offered a third primary dose, or booster, currently.