Half a million 'at-risk' under-12s will become eligible for a jab

Half a million ‘at-risk’ under-12s will become eligible for a Covid jab this week

  • Children aged five to 11 are being offered the jab as they are ‘at-risk’
  • They are either medically vulnerable themselves or live with someone who is
  • The youngsters will be offered two 10 microgram doses of the Pfizer jab
  • Jabs will be given eight weeks apart and are a third of the amount adults are given 

Half a million ‘at-risk’ under-12s will this week become eligible for Covid vaccinations.

The children, aged five to 11, are being offered the jab because they are either medically vulnerable themselves or because they live with somebody who is.

While the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) decided against jabbing all six million children in the age group, it decided the ‘at-risk’ youngsters should get it.

The children, aged five to 11, are being offered the jab because they are either medically vulnerable themselves or because they live with somebody who is (stock image)

NHS vaccination lead Dr Nikki Kanani, a GP, said: ‘We know vaccines give significant protection against severe illness from Covid, including the Omicron variant, so it is important that our youngest and most at-risk get protected.’

The youngsters will be offered two 10 microgram doses of the Pfizer vaccine, a third of the amount used for adult vaccinations. The jabs will be given eight weeks apart.

Meanwhile, Danish researchers have found the new ‘BA.2’ sub-variant of Omicron is likely to be 50 per cent more infectious than the original strain – but there was no evidence of it causing more serious disease in terms of hospitalisation.

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