The Government has now accepted the advice of the four chief medical officers to offer a single dose of the covid vaccine to all healthy 12-15-year-olds.
The NHS is working with partners and school immunisation services to deliver this in secondary schools and letters will start to be sent to parents or guardians of children aged 12-15 with further details from next week. They will also be asked to provide consent for their child to receive the vaccination, either through an online or a paper form. Children do not need to be registered with a GP or have an NHS number to be vaccinated.
At this time, CMOs advise that 12-15 year olds should be offered a first dose only, which will be of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, the only vaccine currently authorised in the UK for those aged 12-15.
The recommendation for those aged 12-15 at greater risk of serious COVID-19, or who are household contacts of severely immunosuppressed individuals, remains that they be offered two. These children will have already been contacted by their GP and will not be included in the school programme.
Those that have a specific immunosuppressive condition as set out in JCVI guidance should have three doses in their primary schedule. These will be arranged by their consultant or GP.
For further information please see the information leaflets below:
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