Should the UK vaccinate children and adolescents against covid-19?
Sonia Saxena, Helen Skirrow, Kate Wighton
Abstract
The UK Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has now recommended covid-19 vaccination for select groups of adolescents.Those newly eligible comprise 12-15 year olds with underlying conditions that may place them at increased risk of serious covid-19 infection, 17 year olds who are within three months of turning 18, and adolescents living with someone who is immunosuppressed. 1 Young people aged 16 to 17 who are at higher risk of serious covid-19 were already eligible.The decision came after the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency approved Pfizer-BioNTech's covid-19 vaccine for use in children aged over 12 years. 2 The JCVI decision triggered public debate because unlike several other high income countries, including the United States 3 and Canada, 4 the UK will not offer covid-19 vaccines to all children aged over 12 years.The UK has vaccinated most of its high risk population against covid-19.Over two thirds of adults aged over 18 years have received two doses. 5However, breaking the chain of transmission needs close to 85% of the whole population to be immune. 6hildren and adolescents, whose lives have been disrupted by school closures, isolation, and social restrictions, 7 make up 21% of the population.As restrictions lift, cases are rising fast in this younger unvaccinated population.