Children between the ages of five and 11 in England will be able to book their first coronavirus vaccine from Saturday morning, NHS England has said.
Parents and carers can book appointments for Monday onwards through the NHS vaccines website, or by calling 119 from 7am, on Saturday morning – with hundreds of sites offering the vaccine across England.
About 5 million children in England are eligible for the jab. Most of these new appointments will be at local vaccination centres or community pharmacies outside schools. There will also be walk-in clinics available, for which the NHS website will display timings.
Children will be offered two doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, to be administered at least 12 weeks apart. The vaccines will be a third of the strength of those administered to adults.
NHS England added that more appointments would be added throughout the week, so anybody unable to get a convenient slot should keep trying.
Families will be given a vaccination record card with the name of the vaccine, batch number and the date the vaccine was given.
Calum Semple, who advises the government as part of Sage, said the vaccine would reduce days lost from education.
Semple, a professor of child health and outbreak medicine at the University of Liverpool, told Sky News: “This is now a vaccine-preventable disease and the vaccine is safer than the disease. It’s a very unpleasant illness for children. And if they have a weakened immune system or if they live in a family where a member has a weakened immune system, the consequences can be devastating. So yes, I am pleased.”
Dr Nikki Kanani, a GP and deputy lead for the NHS Covid-19 vaccination programme, said: “From today, parents of almost 5 million five-to-11-year-olds can book their little ones in for a vaccine, ensuring they get their first dose of protection and helping to protect against potential future waves of Covid-19.
“Vaccines remain the best defence we have against the virus – my 13-year-old son has had his two vaccinations and I’ll be booking my 10-year-old daughter in for hers at the earliest opportunity, and would encourage all parents to read the NHS information available and consider doing the same.”
The health secretary, Sajid Javid, said: “From Monday, the NHS will be rolling out the non-urgent offer for Covid vaccines for all children aged five to 11 in England. Parents, if they want, can take up the offer for their children to increase protection against Covid as we learn to live with this virus.
“Children without underlying health conditions are at low risk of serious illness from Covid and the priority remains for the NHS to offer vaccines and spring boosters to adults and vulnerable young people, as well as to catch up with other childhood immunisation programmes.”
