Britain’s Covid vaccine rollout should be extended to primary school children to defend against the incoming Omicron wave, a senior SAGE scientist said today.
Professor John Edmunds, an epidemiologist at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, called for jabs for five to 11-year-olds ‘as soon as possible’.
Britain’s recent surge in cases — which had seen daily infections rise week-on-week for eight days before falling slightly today — is now being driven by children.
Cases have been highest in under-18s since early November, with more than 32,000 recorded per day last week compared to less than 2,000 in over-75s, according to ZOE data published today.
Speaking at Royal Society of Medicine event today, Professor Edmunds said: ‘We’ve, had a large number of cases over the last few months, and unfortunately high numbers of hospitalisations and 100 to 150 deaths a day.
‘I’m not saying all of that has been driven by children, but much of it unfortunately has.
‘So from taking a population perspective, I think it’s it’s pretty clear we do need to vaccinate our children as well as everybody else.’
Experts fear Omicron may spread more easily in children than its predecessors after a spate of infections were spotted in youngsters in South Africa.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is currently ‘moving at pace’ to approve vaccines in the age group, with a decision expected next week.
And the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) ‘won’t hang around’ on recommending No10 starts dishing them out across the country, one member said.
Vaccinating very young children still makes many scientists uneasy due to the vanishingly low risk posed to them.
Their concerns are amplified due to the slight risk of myocarditis — an ultra-rare form of heart inflammation spotted in some young people after they are jabbed.
Children as young as five should be given Covid vaccines to fight off the Omicron variant in Britain, according to SAGE member Professor John Edwards
Fears over a very rare heart condition side effect — called myocarditis — led No10’s vaccine advisers, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), to opt against routinely jabbing healthy 12 to 15-year-olds, who face a tiny risk of getting seriously ill from the virus. It said the risk of healthy children being admitted to ICU from Covid was two in a million, rising to 100 per million among those with underlying conditions. Meanwhile, there would be three to 17 cases of myocarditis for every first dose dished out and 21 to 42 cases following each second dose given to under-16s
The JCVI — which advises Government on vaccine policy — was reluctant to recommend jabs in over-12s previously, with the decision to extend the rollout taken by Britain’s four chief medical officers.
Jabs have already been licensed for all over-fives in the US, Australia and the EU, but no under-12s are currently able to get a vaccine in the UK yet.
Ireland announced yesterday that it’s going ahead with the move in the ‘coming days’.
Asked if the roll-out should be extended to five-year-olds in Britain, Professor Edmunds said: ‘I think so. I think if the vaccine is licensed, I don’t see a strong reason why it shouldn’t be used.
‘It’s licensed in Europe for use in children I think also in North America. Epidemiologically I think there’s a strong reason for it.
‘Overall, my view is if it’s licensed by the MHRA, I think that the benefits to risk ratio is is worth it, then we should we should introduce it as soon as possible.’
Omicron cases are could be spreading even faster in England than in South Africa, he added.
He said it is ‘extremely likely’ there are more cases of the mutant variant in the community than have already been confirmed by testing.
Professor Edmunds: ‘With the speed of spread of this virus, we may well have really significant numbers of cases by Christmas.
‘I suspect that whatever we do now, we are unlikely to overreact.’
The MHRA is expected to license and approve Pfizer’s vaccine for five-to-11-year-olds at some point this week.
But under-12s are not expected to be given the jab until the New Year at the earliest, with ministers prioritising the booster rollout in the fight against Omicron.
The JCVI, which holds the final say on recommending the jabs, is also thought to be keen on getting vaccines into young children as quickly as possible.
A JCVI member told The Independent: ‘I do think that public opinion is shifting about vaccination of younger children which could widen our discussions.’
The US and Israel were two of the first countries to begin vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds, with the JCVI holding back.
Jabs were approved in 12- to 15-year-olds in the UK after experts noticed myocarditis in all age groups was lower than in other countries.
They believe the 12-week gap in vaccinations in Britain helped keep numbers low, with a slightly higher risk found in second jabs which were being given out after a three-to-four week gap in other countries.
Experts also believe the risk of myocarditis is lower in younger children than adolescents.
Pfizer’s vaccine is found to prevent two cases of intensive care admission per million healthy children and 100 per million in those with chronic health issues.
Although children mostly only get mild symptoms of Covid, some public health experts believe Immunising them should be a priority to reduce the virus’ continued spread, which could theoretically lead to the emergence of a dangerous new variant.
Researchers disagree on the extent to which children have influenced the course of the pandemic.
Early research suggested they did not contribute much to viral spread.
But some experts say children played a significant role this year spreading the Alpha and Delta variants.
And emerging evidence in South Africa suggests the Omicron strain could be more transmissible in children.
South African officials warned higher hospital admissions among children during the fourth wave of infections in the country should prompt vigilance but not panic, will infections so far being mild.
Pfizer’s own study suggested unjabbed 12 to 15-year-olds are just three per cent more likely to catch Covid compared to fully vaccinated children earlier this week
A large number of infants admitted with Covid last month in Tshwane, the metropolitan area that includes the capital Pretoria, raised concerns that the Omicron variant could pose greater risks for young children than other coronavirus variants.
Scientists have yet to confirm any link and have cautioned that other factors could be at play.
Ntsakisi Maluleke, a public health specialist in the Gauteng ‘ground zero’ province, said that out of the 1,511 Covid-positive patients in hospitals in the province, 113 were under nine years old, a greater proportion than during previous waves of infection.
‘We are comforted by clinicians’ reports that the children have mild disease,’ she said.
Health officials and scientists are investigating what was driving the increased admissions in younger ages and were hoping to provide more clarity in the coming two weeks, she said.
Since only a small percentage of South Africa’s positive Covid tests are sent for genomic sequencing, officials do not yet know which variants the children admitted to hospital have been infected with.
Maluleke said healthcare workers could be acting out of an abundance of caution. ‘They would rather have a child under care for a day or two than having a child at home and complicating, but we really need to wait for the evidence,’ she said.