The coronavirus vaccine will be offered to some children aged between six months and four years old in Wales, it has been decided. The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has announced that though most children experience coronavirus with no or mild symptoms it poses a threat of severe illness to some.
It therefore has decided to advise that the vaccine be offered to children age between six months to four years in a clinical risk group. The advice is that they should receive two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
In a statement Wales' health minister Eluned Morgan said: "NHS Wales has been considering arrangements for vaccinating this group of children and further information will be made available to parents of eligible children to invite them to come forward for vaccination."
Read more: Young woman with cold and flu symptoms dies within weeks
Up until now only children over the age of five have been offered the coronavirus vaccine. They do not need to have a pre-existing condition to be eligible.
Ms Morgan added that there is a high level of strong population immunity in Wales which has developed over the last two and a half years but said the risk of severe illness from Covid-19 continues to be disproportionately higher in people in older age groups, residents in care homes for older adults, and people with certain underlying health conditions. She continued: "There also remains ongoing uncertainty about whether or how the virus will evolve and change, how long immunity will last, and the epidemiology of infection."
The JCVI's decision to recommend the vaccine to children at clinical risk between the ages of six months and four years follows as the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) approved Pfizer BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for children aged six months to four years. Ms Morgan said: "The JCVI has met to review recent data related to Covid-19 paediatric vaccine trials, safety surveillance of paediatric Covid-19 vaccines in the United States, and the epidemiology of Covid-19 in the UK in children aged six months to four years.
"When formulating advice in relation to childhood immunisations the JCVI has consistently maintained that the focus should be on the potential benefits and harms of vaccination to children and young people themselves with the prevention of severe Covid-19 (hospitalisations and deaths) in children and young people the primary aim. Throughout the pandemic studies have shown that children are much less likely to develop severe Covid-19 disease than older adults. For the vast majority of children SARS-CoV-2 infection is associated with no, or mild, symptoms.
"However for a smaller proportion of children with pre-existing health conditions the risk of severe illness is greater. The odds of admission to paediatric intensive care units with severe Covid-19 is more than seven times greater for infants and young children with underlying medical conditions compared to children without underlying medical conditions." This statement was released by the Welsh Government during recess and Ms Morgan has invited members of the Senedd to ask questions on this issue when the Senedd returns if they wish to do so.
READ NEXT:
- 'I spent so much of my life not knowing why I was different and then I found out I was autistic'
- Runner told marathon training symptoms are actually stage three cancer
- Health experts 'keeping an eye on' bird flu as it spreads to mammals
- 'I was told to abort my baby as she wouldn't live past birth but now she is 18 months old'
- Doctor who stole £67,000 from NHS gets medical licence back
