Children to get Covid vaccines in schools if approved for 12 to 15 year olds

Kids will be able to get their jabs at school if they are approved for 12 to 15 year olds
PA Wire
Anna Davis @_annadavis7 September 2021

Children will be given Covid vaccines in schools if jabs for 12 to 15 year olds are approved, the schools minister confirmed on Tuesday.

Nick Gibb said delivering the jabs at school would be the “swiftest and most efficient” way of rolling out the vaccination programme.

Speaking to MPs on the education committee he said if the UK’s Chief Medical Officers approve vaccines for children, they would be delivered by the School Age Immunisation Service, which already runs other vaccination programmes in schools.

He denied suggestions that this would cause disruption in schools, saying he does not expect it to be a “huge issue” for schools.

Asked by Committee chair Robert Halfon if schools would be given financial support to help run the vaccination programme, Mr Gibb said: “I don’t think this requires extra resources at the school level. This is an NHS driven programme so we don’t think schools themselves will need more resources for it.”

Mr Gibb said parental consent will “always be sought” before children are vaccinated. But he admitted there will be rare occasions when the views of children and their parents on vaccinations differ.

It comes after vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said parents of 12-15 year-olds would be asked for consent if jabs are approved for the age group, but said that children could override their parents’ wishes “if they’re deemed to be competent to make that decision, with all the information available”.

When pressed on the matter, Mr Gibb said: “This is an important programme. If a decision is made to proceed with it we all have to just be careful with the language we are using and how much we focus on this issue.

“It is a rare issue in terms of children and parents having different views about whether they want to have a vaccination programme, and the health professionals who administer vaccination programmes in schools are very experienced at dealing with these issues and I think we should leave the process with them.”

He added: “These are rare circumstances and have to be dealt with sensitively. I don’t think we should escalate it into a big political issue.”

Mr Gibb was also quizzed on proposals for a new A** grade at A-Level and did not rule it out. He said: “There will be no change to the grading system in 2022 but we are looking at grades long term.”

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