is still showing remarkable protection against severe disease and death by the vaccines. we have to keep looking. we don t know whether that protection will wane. and i think what some governments are doing is looking at this question of, well, maybe the vaccine protection will wane over the course of this coming winter, and we ought to, as a cautious approach to give a third dose now to make sure that doesn t happen. but as i say, we have no evidence scientifically at the moment that that s needed. and it does deny people in other countries getting that dose. let s end where we began, with your view that the extraordinary achievement of the vaccine has in some ways been let down by the failure to get it to the people who need it in the poorer parts of the world. if that continues, you say you hope it will be addressed, but if it continues, would that be a profound moral failing of everybody involved in the vaccine process, including the politicians, the scientists and all of us, all o
well, i think at this moment, the key question for teenagers and younger children is whether or not vaccination of those groups has any direct benefit for them. and there s probably are a subgroup of children who have just slightly increased risk of severe disease. and definitely i think they should be included in vaccine programmes. but broader vaccination in childhood doesn t have so much direct benefit for them. so the real question is, will it prevent transmission and protect adults? and in a country like the uk, where the vast majority of adults are vaccinated, it s not such an important issue to vaccinate children in order to protect the adults and reduce transmission, because, first of all, children are not the major drivers of transmission. secondly, most adults are vaccinated. and then thirdly, we know the virus can still infect people who are vaccinated. so it doesn t fully prevent transmission, in order to do that. the biggest problem i see
and younger children is whether or not vaccination of both groups has any direct benefit for them. of those groups. and there probably is a subgroup of children who are at a slightly increased risk of severe disease and definitely, i think they should be included in vaccine programmes. but broader vaccination in childhood doesn t have so much direct benefit for them. so the real question is, will it prevent transmission and protect adults? and in a country like the uk, where the vast majority of adults are vaccinated, it s not such an important issue to vaccinate children in order to protect the adults and reduce transmission. because first of all, children are not the major drivers of transmission. secondly, most adults are vaccinated, and thirdly, we know the virus can still infect vaccinated people, so it doesn t fully prevent vaccination in order to do that. fully prevent transmission. the biggest problem i see with vaccinating children is actually the timing at this mome
well, i think if we were in a position where we were seeing significant breakthrough amongst vaccinated individuals and if the hospitals were filling up again with vaccinated individuals, then i think that is a very different situation. we re not in that position. all of the effectiveness data around the world is still showing remarkable protection against severe disease and death by the vaccines. we have to keep looking. we don t know whether that protection will wane. and i think what some governments are doing is looking at this question of, well, maybe the vaccine protection will wane over the course of this coming winter, and we ought to, as a cautious approach to give a third dose now to make sure that doesn t happen. but as i say, we have no evidence scientifically at the moment that that s needed. and it does deny people in other countries getting that dose. let s end where we began, with your view that the extraordinary
in the situation where good communication and access will help the vast majority of people, and will end up being vaccinated. but to fully protect the community in a country like the uk, with the numbers you ve described, do you believe it would be right now to push the vaccination to 16 and i7 year olds? indeed, in the us, they now are vaccinating all children over 12. do you think that is an important part of collective protection? well, i think at this moment, the key question for teenagers and younger children is whether or not vaccination of those groups has any direct benefit for them. and there s probably are a subgroup of children who have just slightly increased risk of severe disease. and definitely i think they should be included in vaccine programmes. but broader vaccination in childhood doesn t have so much direct benefit for them. so the real question is, will it prevent transmission and protect adults? and in a country like the uk, where the vast majority of adults are v