Vaccinating children could have “upsides” by preventing school classrooms from being shut down due to coronavirus outbreaks, Matt Hancock has argued.
The Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine was approved for use by the UK regulator in children aged 12 to 15 on Friday but experts have flagged ethical concerns in issuing jabs to a group that is classified as being at low risk from Covid-19.
The Health Secretary said he would be considering advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on the “right approach” before making a final decision.
But the senior Government minister said there were “plenty of good reasons” for inoculating children, despite admitting it was “very rare” that young people are affected “very negatively” by coronavirus infection.