The government is drawing up plans to offer coronavirus vaccines to children over the age of 12 later this summer in a bid to stem a surge in cases among younger age groups.
Matt Hancock signalled the government was preparing proposals to begin offering the jab to secondary school pupils after the UK health regulator approved the use of the Pfizer/BioNTech Covid vaccine in children aged 12 to 15 on Friday.
He told Sky News: “I’m delighted that the regulator, having looked very carefully at the data, with typical rigour and independence, has come forward and said the jab is safe and effective for those who are over the age of 12.
“We are taking advice from the JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) on putting that into practice.”
The extended programme to vaccinate teenagers has not yet been approved by the JCVI, but The Times reports that ministers are understood to be keen to start the rollout in August.
The Health Secretary told Times Radio the main reason to vaccinate children was to “reduce the risk of transmission to others” but that direct benefits to children, such as protection from long Covid and further disruption to education, should also be considered.
He insisted that it would be up to parents whether to give the jab to their children and there was “no question” of unvaccinated children being excluded from school.
The average age of those testing positive for the coronavirus is currently 29, the youngest yet recorded, and ministers are increasingly concerned about the threat of Covid cases being passed on from younger age groups to older cohorts.
School leaders called for pupils to be vaccinated as a matter of priority after data published last week showed outbreaks of the Delta variant in schools throughout England. But some scientists warned it could be unethical to prioritise jabs for children, who are at extremely low risk of serious illness from Covid, given the small risk of side-effects and low vaccine rates in many other countries.
The debate over vaccinating teenagers comes as the government prepares to invite adults under 30 to book their jabs this week, in line with its target of offering all adults a vaccine by the end of July.
As part of additional efforts to boost take up of the vaccine among younger adults, the government has partnered with several of the biggest dating apps, such as Tinder, Hinge and Bumble.
Users will be able to choose to display a badge on their profiles to show if they have been vaccinated against Covid or support the jab drive. However, there will be no way of verifying whether those displaying the badge have genuinely had the vaccine.