Children as young as five may soon be offered a Covid vaccine

Children from the age of five could soon be offered Covid jab, according to a public health expert.

Professor of public health at the University of Edinburgh Linda Bauld says it would be a “reasonable next step”.

Speaking on the BBC On Sunday Show, Ms Bauld said: “Israel and other countries are just stimulating all adults, it’s not stratified by age.

“You start with the most vulnerable but then you boost all eligible adults.

“Maybe that’s what’s going on here and we’ll at least go down to the 1930s, probably below.”

Currently, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) recommends that only those over 12 years of age be offered a vaccine in the UK.

In America, however, the vaccine has been extended to younger age groups.

Ms Bauld added: “There are a lot of parents who ask for this (children’s vaccinations).

“We will have more global data in due course, and JCVI has been very careful about immunizing adolescents and young people, but that looks to me like a real potential next step.”

Larry Flanagan, general secretary of EIS, Scotland’s largest teachers’ union, said children over five should be offered a Covid-19 vaccine to fight the spread of the virus in schools.

He said: “We are in favor of young people being offered this vaccine and we have told Serg (Scottish Education Recovery Group) that.

“I was surprised to find out from Serg that there apparently are no vaccines licensed by age group in the UK at the moment, although the US has clearly started vaccinating this particular group.

“I hope there is work going on to ensure that a decision is made to allow this age group to be vaccinated.”

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