Leaked documents reveal that doctors were told by leakers to prepare for mass vaccinations of children starting at five years.
According to the NHS England papers, parental consent is required to vacinate children aged five- to eleven years old once vaccine plans have been approved by regulators.
They also state that the environment in which primary school children are given the Covid-19 jab must be ‘age appropriate’, according to The Times.
The documents reportedly said the vaccination process should be ‘plotted through the eyes of a child’ in a bid to reassure younger patients.
It comes after SAGE experts have warned that Britain’s recent surge in Covid cases is now being driven by children.
Two confirmed Omicron-supermutant outbreaks have occurred in English primary schools.
In September in England, the mass introduction of Covid for 12- to 15-year olds started. Only 44% had been vaccinated in that time. The two doses of Pfizer for children 12-17 years old are given 12 weeks apart.
Britain is slower in immunizing children than most other countries. The European Medicines Agency (EMA) approved the use of Pfizer’s jab at one third strength on November 25, for 5-11-year-olds.
Although the US approved the vaccine last month for primary schoolchildren, only 17 percent have received the vaccination.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency is currently’moving fast’ in order to approve vaccines within the age group. An expected decision comes next week.
A member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation claimed that No10 is being recommended by the JCVI and will begin to distribute them throughout the country.
Scientists are often uneasy about vaccinating children under five years of age because the risk is so low.
Their concerns are amplified due to the slight risk of myocarditis — an ultra-rare form of heart inflammation spotted in some young people after they are jabbed.
It comes after Professor John Edmunds, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, called for jabs for five to 11-year-olds ‘as soon as possible’.
Today, Professor Edmunds spoke at the Royal Society of Medicine Event. He said that there have been a lot of medical cases in recent months and that we’ve had 100-150 deaths per day.
Although I don’t believe all that was driven by children is true, many of those things have been.
“So I believe it is clear that everyone needs to be vaccinated, even if they are looking at it from a population perspective.
The number of cases has been the highest among under-18s in November. More than 32,000 were recorded last week, compared with less than 2,000 for over-75s. ZOE data was published.
On Saturday in the UK, 54,073 more daily Covid cases were reported. Some 663 were Omicron strains, according to the UK Health Security Agency. This is an increase from yesterday’s 448.
This brings the total number of highly-transmissible options in the country to 1,898, though experts think it’s much more.
The JCVI — which advises Government on vaccine policy — was reluctant to recommend jabs in over-12s previously, with the decision to extend the rollout taken by Britain’s four chief medical officers.
All over-fives have been granted Jabs in the USA, Australia, and Europe. However, no vaccines for under-12s can be obtained in the UK at the moment.
Yesterday, Ireland declared that the country will proceed with its move within the “coming days”.
Professor Edmunds was asked if the five-year-olds should have access to the vaccine. If the vaccine has been licensed, then I see no reason it should not be used.
It’s approved in Europe and North America for use in children. It’s an epidemiologically sound decision.
“Overall, if the MHRA licenses it, I believe that the risks to the benefit ratio is worthwhile. We should then introduce it as quickly as possible.”
He said that Omicron cases could spread faster in England than South Africa.
He stated that it was ‘extremely probable’ that more mutations are present in the community than has been tested.
Professor Edmunds says: “With the rapid spread of this virus we could have significant numbers by Christmas.
“I believe that we will not overreact to whatever actions we take now.”
The JCVI holds final authority on recommending jabs. It is believed that the JCVI also wants to quickly get vaccines to young children.
A member of JCVI told The Independent that ‘public opinion is shifting regarding vaccinations for younger children, which could broaden our discussions.
Two countries that were among the first to start vaccinating children aged 12-15 years old in the United States and Israel are the JCVI.
The UK approved Jabs for 12- and 15-year olds after myocarditis experts discovered that the prevalence of this condition in every age group was lower in the UK than it is in other countries.
According to them, the 12-week gap between vaccinations in Britain and other countries helped maintain low numbers. However, second jabs were given at a slightly higher rate than those that had received their first shots after an average of three to four weeks.
Experts agree that younger children are at lower risk for myocarditis than those who are older.
Pfizer’s vaccine prevents two admissions to intensive care per million for healthy children, and one per million for those who have chronic conditions.
While Covid symptoms are usually not severe in children, public health professionals believe that it is important to immunize them to stop the virus from spreading further. This could potentially lead to the creation of a new, more deadly variant.
After Professor John Edmunds, an epidemiologist from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine (pictured), called for vaccinations for children five- to eleven years old ‘as quickly as possible’
Researchers disagree about the impact of children on the outcome of the pandemic.
Research suggests that early research did not show that viral spread was affected by them.
However, some experts believe that children were a key part of the spread of Alpha and Delta varieties this year.
Evidence from South Africa shows that the Omicron strain may be more easily transmissible to children.
South African officials warned higher hospital admissions among children during the fourth wave of infections in the country should prompt vigilance but not panic, will infections so far being mild.
The large number infants who were admitted to Tshwane’s metropolitan area, including Pretoria, with Covid in their last month raised concern that Omicron might pose more risk for small children than other coronavirus varieties.
Researchers have not been able to prove a link, but they have warned that there could be other contributing factors.
Ntsakisi Maluleke is a Gauteng ground zero public health specialist. He said that of 1,511 Covid positive patients admitted to hospitals, 113 of them were younger than nine years, which was a higher percentage than in previous wave of infections.
She said, “We are consoled by the reports of clinicians that the children have mild diseases.”
Scientists and doctors are looking into the causes of the higher admissions for younger patients. She stated that they hope to get more insight in the next two week.
Officials don’t know the variants of infected children who were admitted to hospitals because only a few South Africans have positive Covid test results.
Maluleke suggested that healthcare workers might be over-reacting. She said that she would prefer to have her child in care for just a few days than having her at home. But, we need to wait until the evidence is available.