UK to rollout COVID-19 vaccines to 16 and 17 year olds

LONDON (AP) — The U.K. is to offer coronavirus vaccines to 16 and 17-year-olds in the coming weeks after the independent body of scientists that makes recommendations over the rollout changed its advice.

The four nations of the U.K. all accepted the change in advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization for healthy 16 to 17-year-olds to be offered a first dose of the Pfizer vaccine. They will not need the consent of parents.

The change, which means another 1.4 million people across the U.K. will be eligible for a first dose of vaccine, comes just two weeks after the JCVI recommended against routine vaccination of anyone under the age of 18 though did stress that it would continually assess the evidence.

Currently, the only 16 and 17-year-olds being offered the Pfizer vaccine, which has been approved by Britain’s medical regulator for use for anyone aged 12 and over, are those with underlying health conditions or those living with vulnerable people.

The timeline for when they will get their second dose has yet to be determined but further recommendations based on the evidence of how the response to the first dose has been will emerge in coming weeks.

“While COVID-19 is typically mild or asymptomatic in most young people, it can be very unpleasant for some and for this particular age group, we expect one dose of the vaccine to provide good protection against severe illness and hospitalization,” said Professor Wei Shen Lim, who chairs the JCVI's COVID-19 program.

While the British rollout of vaccines has been one of the world’s fastest, with 73% of the adult population fully vaccinated, it has been fairly tardy in offering jabs to youths. There have been growing calls for the vaccination drive to be expanded following a spike in infections this summer as a result of the spread of the more...