Boris Johnson wants NHS to ‘crack on’ with vaccinating children as young as 12

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Boris Johnson wants the NHS to ‘crack on’ with vaccinating children as young as 12 amid mounting frustration with scientific advisers who are yet to approve the move.

Ministers are reportedly concerned that the UK is at risk of becoming an ‘outlier’ as other nations, such as Germany, France, Spain and the US, push ahead with giving coronavirus jabs to children aged between 12 and 15. 

On Wednesday, NHS England bosses told trusts to be ready to expand the roll out to 12 to 15-year-olds in just two weeks’ time as scientists warned the virus will ‘rip through schools’ unless pupils are immunised before the new term. 

But the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) – which advises Number 10 on jabs – has yet to give a green light to the plans.   

It claims the small risk of side effects may still outweigh the benefit due to the fact young children are very unlikely to be badly ill with Covid.

The body’s current advice is that children in the age group should only be given a jab if they have particular health conditions which put them at increased risk from the disease.

The delay has prompted frustration within Government, according to The Times. 

It comes amid news that ministers are also now embroiled in a dispute with family campaign groups over whether or not they can refuse consent for their children to be vaccinated.  

Speaking of the official frustration over the MHRA’s caution, a senior official source told The Times: ‘Boris wants to crack on with it. Everyone wants to get on with it. 

‘We’re increasingly an outlier, there’s frustration with the JCVI. It’s like a black box, nobody knows what’s going on in there. 

‘One small organisation is hindering the entire vaccination programme. We’re at risk of losing the gains we’ve made in vaccinating people.’

But a source within the organisation said the scientists would not be ‘bounced’ by politicians into speeding up the process. 

Both Moderna and Pfizer’s jabs have been linked to myocarditis, a rare heart problem believed to affect around one in 20,000 young people. 

But Britain’s medical regulator, the MHRA – separate from the JCVI – has already said that both vaccines are safe and effective for 12 to 15-year-olds. 

It means that ministers are only now waiting for the JCVI’s scientists to make a decision.

Parents have raised concerns at the proposals to offer 12 to 15-year-olds in England a jab, despite assurances from the Education Secretary that consent would always be sought. 

But parental rights organisation UsForThem, which was founded in May 2020 following the decision to close schools, said it had been flooded with calls from parents worried they would have no say.

Molly Kingsley, UsForThem’s co-founder, told the Telegraph: ‘Yes you have to ask for parental consent, but this begs the question of what is going to happen if consent is withheld?

‘This is profoundly murky and it shatters any remaining trust parents have in the Government.

‘It strikes me that given the uncertainty about whether a 12-year-old is competent to consent, there are serious liability issues for schools that press ahead with this on school premises.’

She added: ‘Medical procedures rely on informed consent. Asking children to make a decision of this magnitude is totally inappropriate.’

Education Secretary Gavin Williamson told ITV news on Thursday: ‘Parental consent will always be sought.

‘If JVCI do reach a decision that children should be able to receive a vaccine, parental consent would always be asked before they receive that vaccine.’

He added: ‘It would be reassuring for parents to have that choice as to whether children would be able to have that vaccine but it always has to be based upon parental consent.’

Despite the need to wait for the JCVI’s decision the NHS has drawn up plans to offer Covid vaccines to children aged between 12 and 15 when schools return in September. 

On Wednesday, NHS England bosses told trusts to be ready to expand the roll out in just two weeks’ time as scientists warned the virus will ‘rip through schools’ unless pupils are immunised before the new term.  

Figures show that, despite schools being out for summer, secondary-aged children are fuelling the third wave of infections along with older teens and young adults. There are fears there could be an explosion in cases when classrooms go back next week.   

Leaked emails reveal NHS trusts in England have until 4pm on Friday to have plans in place for the rollout in children.  

All 16 and 17-year-olds are already being invited for the Pfizer vaccine and don’t need permission from a parent or guardian to get one. 

But only under-16s who live with vulnerable people or who have immune weaknesses themselves are being invited at present.

On Thursday, some experts called on No10’s top scientists to approve vaccinations for teenagers, warning that the Delta variant would ‘fly through schools’.

But others said they were ‘right to be cautious’ about vaccinating over-12s. 

Scientists pushing back against the move argued it may be better for children to catch Covid and recover to develop natural immunity than to be reliant on protection from vaccines, which studies suggest wanes within months. 

The AstraZeneca vaccine is not being recommended for under-40s in Britain because it has been linked to very rare blood clots. 

NHS England’s regional offices emailed trusts yesterday to tell them to draw up the plans, reports The Telegraph.

They were told to have the plans ready by 4pm on Friday, and be able to roll out the first doses to the age group from September 6 when schools return. 

Emails revealed the aim is to inoculate three quarters of 12 to 15-year-olds by the date November 1.

They also say children should be deemed ‘Gillick competent to provide own consent’ over jabs. This refers to a legal decision in 1985, which ruled that a teenage girl could obtain contraception without her parents’ involvement. 

The JCVI has previously insisted there is not enough data to support a roll out in this group. But the newspaper reports further research on this is about to be published.

The top committee has been showing signs that it could approve vaccines for secondary school children.

In July, they said: ‘The minimal health benefits of offering universal Covid vaccination to children do not outweigh the potential risks.’

But just two weeks later deputy chief medical officer and committee member Professor Jonathan Van-Tam said it was ‘more likely, rather than less likely’ that jabs would be offered to 12 to 15-year-olds.

A Department of Health spokeswoman said: ‘No decisions have been made on vaccinating 12-15 year olds and it is inaccurate to suggest otherwise. 

‘Ministers have not yet received further advice from the JCVI on this cohort. We continue to plan for a range of scenarios to ensure we are prepared for all eventualities.’

There are more than 2.6million children aged 12 to 15 in England, according to population estimates from the Office for National Statistics.

Latest Department of Health data showed 15 to 19-year-olds in England had the highest Covid infection rate in the country at 929.7 cases per 100,000 people, or one in 107 being infected.

Children aged 10 to 14 had the fifth highest infection rate at 354.2 per 100,000, or one in 282.

The Department of Health has split the population into 19 different age groups to help monitor Covid infections. People aged 20 to 24, 25 to 29 and 30 to 34 had a higher infection rate than 10 to 14-year-olds. 

Separate estimates from Health data science company ZOE showed there are almost 16,000 Covid cases a day among under-18s, the second highest rate in Britain. 

Professor Tim Spector, a top epidemiologist who leads the app, said it was likely cases would continue to rise, especially when schools return. 

It is not clear whether NHS Trusts in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have also been asked to draw up plans to vaccinated secondary school children.

But all four nations follow advice from the JCVI on which age groups should receive the Covid vaccine.

It also not clear whether 12 to 15-year-olds could be offered two doses should the JCVI recommend they are vaccinated. Currently 16 to 17-year-olds are only being offered one jab.

The JCVI is coming under pressure to approve Covid vaccines for over-12s from some scientists. 

Professor Devi Sridhar, a global public health expert at Edinburgh University, said 12 to 15-year-olds should be offered the vaccine ‘urgently’ with the Delta variant set to ‘fly through schools’.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme: ‘I think right now, if we know the options with Delta, given how infectious it is, is that either you’re going to be exposed to Covid without any protection or you can be exposed and have a vaccine.

‘And we should be offering teens that vaccine so they have that protection before going back to schools.’

She added that the JCVI were being ‘very cautious’, which was costing the country valuable time.

‘They’re waiting and watching and I guess the issue with a pandemic is that waiting and watching costs time,’ she said.

‘And time is the currency now that matters because it’s not like we can wait and watch and in six months say ‘OK, it’s safe, let’s vaccinate’.

‘In those six months if a large percentage of 12 to 15-year-olds get infected, in some ways they’ve lost that window of time and so I think perhaps they don’t feel the urgency that they should be feeling given it’s an emergency situation and we have Delta, which is so infectious. I mean, it’s just flying through schools as we know.

‘But not just here, Germany, Denmark, even places like New Zealand and Australia are struggling with Delta compared to the original virus.’

But SAGE scientist Professor Russell Viner backed the JCVI this morning, and said they were ‘right to be cautious’ about the decision to vaccinate over-12s.

He told the Today programme: ‘We would be vaccinating teenagers largely to protect adults, because the benefit to them is low, and if we’re going to do that the safety bar needs to be exceptionally high.’

Professor Viner said scientists needed to ‘really bottom out the risk’ posed by a rare heart inflammation that has been reported as a side effect of the Pfizer jab.

‘My belief is that once we have more data and we have really bottomed out the risk from this rare heart inflammation, that in a few months we will undoubtedly be doing this — but it is right to be cautious.’

Professor Spector has also backed the JCVI’s more cautious approach to inoculating the age group.

He told MailOnline: ‘We believe that the government and JCVI are proceeding with appropriate caution as this is a very new situation for everyone and the last thing we want to do is give people booster vaccines that don’t need it. 

‘We hope there will be an announcement soon on the booster strategy.’

Britain has been accused of being sluggish to roll out the Covid vaccine to other age groups, as its vaccination drive fell behind other countries.

US regulators approved Pfizer’s jab for 12 to 15-year-olds in May, and has already got at least one dose to 40 per cent (7million) of the age group.

The EU’s regulator also gave the age group the green light to get the jab at the end of May, with many countries quick to start rolling it out.

France began inoculating 12 to 15-year-olds in June, and more than 40 per cent (2million) have already received a first dose.

Italy started rolling out jabs to the age group from July with the aim of inoclating them before schools return. The Netherlands also began rolling out the jabs to secondary school children in July.