Government to make call on vaccinating teenagers ‘within days’
The government is preparing to make a verdict on whether to offer the Covid vaccine to teenagers within days, according to housing secretary Robert Jenrick.
Jenrick said today that the government was “very sympathetic” to allowing 12 to 17-year-olds get the jab in England and that a decision will soon be announced.
Every adult in the UK has now been offered the vaccine, with two-thirds of over-18s now having received two jabs.
Speaking to the BBC today, Jenrick said: “We are still awaiting the final advice from the JCVI about extending the vaccination programme to younger people.
“It seems like a sensible thing to do. The evidence we have received so far is compelling and ministers are going to make a decision armed with the advice in the coming days.”
It comes after the Sunday Telegraph reported today that the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) will advise to only give the jab to teenagers who are deemed vulnerable.
The government is going ahead with so-called freedom day tomorrow, despite Covid cases surging to more than 50,000 a day.
The new shedding of restrictions will see social distancing and other limits on social contact almost entirely scrapped.
Jenrick said today that the country’s vaccine coverage will mean that there will be enough protection for the NHS not to get overwhelmed even if cases peak at more than 100,000 a day.
There have been rumblings that some restrictions may need to be re-imposed in winter as the virus becomes more prominent.
Deputy chief medical officer Jonathan Van-Tam has warned of a “bumpy winter” ahead and urged people to approach the easing of restrictions tomorrow in a “a cautious, steady, gradual way”.