NHS teams will visit schools to offer jabs to pupils after the mid-term in October

Schoolchildren aged 12 to 15 will be able to obtain a coronavirus vaccine at school after the October semester.

The health teams of the NHS should visit more than 800 schools offer the jabs, and teenagers can also get one at a vaccination center through the national reservation system.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid encouraged students to get vaccinated to “protect themselves and those around them”.

“The vaccines are safe and will help keep children in the classroom,” he said.

Students are also advised to take a lateral flow test before the end of midterm to prevent the spread of the coronavirus in schools.

The decision to vaccinate adolescents came despite the refusal of the Joint Committee on Immunization and Immunization (JCVI) to recommend a universal vaccination program for children aged 12 to 15 years.

In its decision, the JCVI claimed that the virus poses a very low risk to children in this age group and that inoculation would offer only minor benefits.

But chief medical officers told a press conference in Downing Street on Monday that there were other benefits, including less disruption to the school term.

More than 600,000 young people have been vaccinated since the jab rollout was extended to include 12 to 15 year olds at the end of September, NHS England said.

Some 163,000 young people received a jab in the week following the opening of the national reservation system from October 22.

Another 140,000 children will have their vaccines reserved over the next few weeks, NHS England added.

Dr Nikki Kanani, general practitioner and deputy head of the NHS Covid-19 vaccination program, said: ‘As our children return to class, our efforts to vaccinate children will not stop – hundreds of other schools will be vaccinated this week.

“It is really important that we continue with the same enthusiasm if we are to make sure the children stay in class with their peers this winter, and so I encourage all parents and guardians to go online and read the information on immunization of your child, so that you can make an informed decision.