UK's vaccine assessor opts against COVID jabs for children

LONDON (AP) — The U.K.’s vaccine advisors declined Friday to recommend the vaccination of healthy older children against COVID-19, saying the direct health benefits are “marginal.” However, the British government said it may join others around the world in offering the vaccines after assessing wider societal issues.

In its analysis of whether the rollout of coronavirus vaccines should be expanded to children aged between 12 and 15, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation concluded that the benefits are “marginally greater than the potential known harms.”

With just two per million of healthy children needing intensive care treatment for COVID-19, the JCVI said the “margin of benefit, based primarily on a health perspective, is considered too small to support advice on a universal program.”

In contrast, the rate among children with underlying health conditions is far higher at over 100 per million. As a result, the JCVI did expand the group of older children with underlying health conditions who should be offered the vaccine. These include those with chronic major heart, lung, kidney, liver and neurological conditions. It means about 200,000 more children will be invited for either the Pfizer or Moderna vaccines.

Though the JCVI failed to back a universal rollout to older children just as schools reopen for the new year, the U.K. may still end up joining others such as France, Germany and the U.S. in offering vaccines to that group.

The health ministers from the four U.K. nations — England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland — said they have asked their respective chief medical officers to make their own assessments in light of the JCVI's analysis.

“People aged 12 to 15 who are clinically vulnerable to the virus have already been offered a COVID-19...