Healthy 12- to 15-year-olds could override their parents’ decision on vaccination in the right circumstances, a minister has said, as the UK government prepares to overrule advice and extend jabs to younger teens.
Nadhim Zahawi, the vaccines minister, said parents of healthy 12- to 15-year-olds would be asked for consent if coronavirus jabs were approved for their children – expected to be pushed through by ministers this week.
But he added that children could override their parents’ wishes “if they’re deemed to be competent to make that decision, with all the information available”.
He told Times Radio: “What you essentially do is make sure that the clinicians discuss this with the parents, with the teenager, and if they are then deemed to be able to make a decision that is competent, then that decision will go in the favour of what the teenager decides to do.”
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) decided against backing the move to extend the vaccine offer to younger teens on health grounds alone, since Covid-19 presents such a low risk to that age bracket. However, that decision is likely to be overruled by the UK’s chief medical officers, who will take wider considerations into account – such as disruption to education.
Prof Peter Openshaw, a member of the New and Emerging Respiratory Virus Threats Advisory Group (Nervtag) which advises the government, told BBC Breakfast he was “a little surprised” at the JCVI’s decision.
“We do know the virus is circulating very widely amongst this age group, and that if we’re going to be able to get the rates down and also prevent further surges of infection perhaps later in the winter, then this is the group that needs to become immune,” he said.
“And the best way to become immune is through vaccination, and there’s never been as much information as this in the past. To think there hasn’t been enough research is completely wrong.”
Zahawi said no final decision had been made. “We have not made any decisions, so we haven’t decided not to listen to the experts,” he said.
“On the contrary, all four ministers, the secretary of state [for health] Sajid Javid and his fellow ministers in the devolved administrations have agreed to ask the chief medical officers to convene expert groups, including the JCVI being in that, to be able to recommend which way we should go on healthy 12- to 15-year-olds.”
Zahawi also confirmed vaccine passports will be required for nightclubs, mass events and large venues in England by the end of September, the vaccines minister has confirmed, saying that would allow businesses to stay open during the winter months if Covid-19 surges.
He said the government wanted to “make sure the whole economy remains open” through the autumn amid fears that a return to school could set off a new wave of infections.
“We are looking at, by the end of September when everyone has had the opportunity to be fully vaccinated, for the large venues, venues that could end up causing a real spike in infections, where we need to use the certification process,” Zahawi told Sky’s Trevor Phillips on Sunday.
“If you look at what the FA have done, they’ve done so brilliantly in terms of checking vaccine status to reopen football. That is the sort of right thing to do and we are absolutely on track to continue to make sure that we do that.”
Vaccine passports, which can be shown via the NHS app, have been fiercely opposed by some Conservative MPs. But Zahawi said Boris Johnson was committed to the plan.
“The reason being is that, I, as does the prime minister, want to make sure the whole economy remains open,” he said. “The worst thing we can do for those venues is to have a sort of open-shut-open-shut strategy because we see infection rates rise because of the close interaction of people, that’s how the virus spreads, if people are in close spaces in large numbers we see spikes appearing.
“The best thing to do then is to work with the industry to make sure that they can open safely and sustainably in the long term, and the best way to do that is to check vaccine status.”
