Britain will offer the COVID-19 vaccine to around 6 million children aged 5 to 11, officials announced on Wednesday.
The government said it will offer children a low dose of the vaccine on a “non-urgent” basis from April in England.
Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland announced similar measures.
“Parents can, if they wish, accept the offer to increase protection against possible future waves of COVID-19 while we learn to live with this virus,” said Health Secretary Sajid Javid.
The government’s vaccine advisory committee said that while the virus poses no threat to most children, a very small number of those infected will become seriously ill.
About 85% of children over 12 in the UK are fully vaccinated, but the country has lagged behind the United States and European countries such as France, Germany and Italy in vaccinating younger children. Currently, children 11 and younger can only be vaccinated if they have medical conditions that put them at serious risk for complications from the coronavirus.
Officials said Wednesday that young children will be offered two 10-microgram doses of the vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech, with an interval of at least 12 weeks between doses.
Brian Ferguson, professor of immunology at the University of Cambridge, commented that the vaccine advisory body has been “exceptionally cautious in recommending childhood vaccination against COVID”, despite the fact that millions of children in other countries are have been vaccinated with few or no side effects.
“There is an argument that it is now too late to offer the vaccine to this age group as COVID has spread in elementary schools this winter,” he said. “However, there are children who have not yet been exposed to COVID who will benefit from immunization, and immunological data indicate that vaccination after infection generates potent broadly neutralizing antibodies.”
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