London: Nearly 500,000 eligible children in England are set to receive their first dose of a COVID vaccine after the United Kingdom’s (UK) National Health Service (NHS) on Sunday expanded its COVID-19 vaccination programme to cover vulnerable children aged five to 11 years.
Eligible children include those with diabetes, immunosuppression, learning disabilities, and other serious conditions that place them at high risk from COVID-19, news agency PTI reported.
“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,” Dr Nikki Kanani, an Indian-origin GP and deputy lead for NHS vaccination programme was quoted as saying.
“The NHS is now vaccinating the most at risk 5–11-year-olds ensuring they get their vital dose of protection. Thousands of young people are still getting protected every day with millions vaccinated so far and we are asking parents not to delay coming forward – as soon as the NHS contacts you, please come forward so the NHS can protect their youngest against the virus,” she added.
Eligible children in the youngest cohort will get a second dose eight weeks after their first dose and can’t receive any vaccination until four weeks after a positive test for coronavirus, the report added.
“I would like parents and guardians to be reassured that no new vaccine for children would have been approved unless the expected standards of safety, quality and effectiveness had been met,” said UK Vaccines Minister Maggie Throup.
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