UK plans to vaccinate children against COVID-19 before next school year to provide face-to-face education

The UK government is considering administering a dose of vaccine from Pfizer against the coronavirus to children over 12 in September, at the start of the following school year, revealed this Sunday the newspaper The Sunday Times.

“We must be prepared to immunize children, especially adolescents, quickly and effectively if necessaryAdam Finn, member of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI), told the newspaper.

The pediatrician pointed out that “it is extremely important that education is not interrupted in any way during the next school year“.

Linda Bauld, professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh, has found that UK health plans are moving “in this direction”. “The reason for vaccinating children is to actually improve the immunity of the herd.“He said in an interview with Radio Times.

This measure, which could be replicated by other countries with advanced vaccination campaigns, would affect the efforts of low-income countries in the dose race. Adolescents can be immunized while dozens of states have yet to complete immunization of frontline staff or the elderly.

the Sunday Times reported that the formula of Pfizer it could be offered to students as part of this plan, since its partner BioNTech has tested the vaccine in children under 16 years of age. However, Moderna’s formula is not excluded.

Last week, Health Minister Matt Hancock announced that the government had purchased an additional 60 million doses of Pfizer vaccine to give “booster doses” in the fall (in addition to the 40 million it had already purchased). The executive is considering the possibility of administering a third dose to certain sectors of the population to strengthen the immunity obtained with the first two injections.

In addition, London is investigating that this third dose is a vaccine made by a pharmacist that is different from the first two, if trials suggest that this strategy may increase protection.

The UK has been the most affected European country by the virus, with more than 127,000 deaths, although it launched a successful mass vaccination campaign in early December with vaccines from AstraZeneca, Pfizer / BioNTech and Moderna.

Nearly 34 million first doses have been given, and a quarter of the adult population (13.5 million people) received a second dose, according to official figures released mid-week.

(With information from EFE and AFP)

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