Covid in Scotland: Children to be vaccinated 'as quickly as possible' if vaccine committee gives go-ahead

Children over 12 years of age are set to be vaccinated “as quickly as possible” once the Scottish Government is given the go-ahead from an expert vaccination committee, the First Minister has said.

Last week it was announced the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for use among 12 to 15-year-olds following a review of its safety, quality and effectiveness.

During her latest Covid update to Parliament on Tuesday, Nicola Sturgeon said if the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunization (JCVI) gives the go-ahead for children to be vaccinated, the Scottish Government will “move as quickly as possible” to vaccinate them.

Speaking to MSPs, Ms Sturgeon said: “I can confirm that if the JCVI recommends the use of the vaccine for children aged 12 and over, we will move as quickly as possible to implement the advice.

A child receives a vaccine picture: supplied

“For the moment, however, we continue to focus on vaccinating all adults as quickly as possible."

She added: “It is vital that we rely on expert advice in all of our vaccination decisions. However, vaccination may well be an important way of giving children greater protection, minimising any further disruption to schooling, and further reducing community transmission of the virus.”

The vaccine has already been approved for 16 to 18-year-olds, and those in that age group with an underlying health condition have already been covered in Scotland’s vaccine rollout.

Despite cases rising by about 50 per cent in the past week, there is “no evidence” of an increase in children being admitted to hospital with Covid in Scotland, the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health (RCPCH) confirmed last week.

In the previous 24 hours to yesterday, 695 new cases of Covid were reported in Scotland, but no new recorded deaths.

To date, 12 people are in intensive care with recently confirmed Covid-19, while 121 people are in hospital having recently tested positive for the virus.

By 7:30am on Tuesday, 3,403,866 people in Scotland had received their first dose of the vaccine, which means that almost exactly three quarters of Scotland’s adult population has now received a first dose.

Figures also show as of Monday, 2,282,203 people received their second dose, which means more than half of the adult population in Scotland is now fully vaccinated.

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