Babies and Children Under 5 to Be Offered Pfizer COVID-19 Jab for 1st Time in UK

A nurse prepares to administer the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at Guy's Hospital in London, UK, on Dec. 8, 2020. (Frank Augstein/AP Photo)

Babies and children under the age of 5 are to be offered the COVID-19 vaccine for the first time, UK health authorities have announced.

On Thursday, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised that clinically vulnerable children aged 6 months to 4 years old should be offered the jab.

The committee does not currently advise vaccination of children aged 6 months to 4 years if they are not in a vulnerable group.

It means 57,000 children will be offered two doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine, with an interval of 8 to 12 weeks between the first and second doses.

The JCVI added that further advice regarding a potential third 3-microgram dose of the vaccine will be issued “in due course.”

A study that used data from the first 12 months of the pandemic claimed that the mortality rate for under-18s was two per million. This was based on data from those who died within 100 days of a positive SARS-CoV-2 test in England.

NHS England confirmed it will begin offering vaccinations to those eligible in England from mid-June.

Health Secretary Steve Barclay arrives in Downing Street ahead of a Cabinet meeting at 10 Downing Street in London on Dec. 13, 2022. (Leon Neal/Getty Images)

‘Very Low Risk of Harm’

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said that “children are at very low risk of harm from COVID.”

“However, there are a very small number of children with health conditions which make them particularly vulnerable, and for those children, we want to give parents the choice as to whether they wish to vaccinate their at-risk child or not,” he added.

“I have accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on vaccinating children aged from 6 months to 4 years who are in a clinical risk group. It is a parental decision, and this advice is simply to enable parents of children with medical conditions to choose if they wish to have the protection,” said Barclay.

The JCVI said that the odds of admission to paediatric intensive care units (PICUs) with severe COVID-19 is over seven-fold greater for infants and young children with underlying medical conditions compared to those without such conditions. It added that admission rates to hospital and to PICUs for confirmed COVID-19 cases have remained low among children aged 4 years and under.

The UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) previously calculated that in the Omicron era during winter 2021–2022, around 65,000 children aged 1 to 4 years, regardless of underlying medical conditions, would need to be vaccinated with two doses to prevent one person requiring admission to hospital and requiring oxygen, assisted ventilation, or admission to PICU.

‘The Virus Is Not Going Away’

Professor Wei Shen Lim, chairman of the JCVI’s COVID-19 committee, said: “For the vast majority of infants and children, COVID-19 causes only mild symptoms, or sometimes no symptoms.

“However, for a small group of children with preexisting health conditions it can lead to more serious illness and, for them, vaccination is the best way to increase their protection.”

Dr. Mary Ramsay, head of immunisation at the UKHSA, said: “COVID-19 is still in circulation, with thousands of new cases reported every week.

“The extra protection offered by the vaccine could be important for young children in clinical risk groups, who are at greater risk of severe illness.

“The virus is not going away so I would encourage all parents to bring their child forward if they are eligible. Parents should wait to be contacted by their local health professionals.”

COVID-19 Vaccination

Last September, authorities wound down COVID-19 jabs for children aged 5–11, except for those in clinical risk groups, as they said the offer was only applicable to children who recently turned 5 years old.

At the time, in line with previous plans, the UKHSA confirmed that children who had not turned 5 by the end of August were not offered a routine COVID-19 vaccination.

Since February, healthy people under 50 in England can no longer get seasonal booster shots, with the government citing the high levels of population immunity from vaccination, natural immunity, or both.

PA Media and Lily Zhou contributed to this report.