Cabinet minister has piled pressure on scientists to give the go-ahead for Covid-19 jabs for children.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson stressed that as a parent he would like to be able to choose whether his children get the innoculation.
He said the NHS was ready to send health staff into schools to deliver the jabs.
However, asked if the JCVI should get a “wiggle on” about decisions on booster and jabs for children, Mr Williamson told Sky News: “Speaking as a parent myself, I think parents would find it incredibly reassuring to know that they had a choice as to whether their child would be vaccinated or not.”
Pressed on whether the focus should be on delivering a booster programme for adults or jabs for children and young adults, the Cabinet minister added: “We have got the capacity to be able to deliver vaccinations for children as well as to deliver a booster programme.
“So it’s not an either/or.
“It’s a situation about making sure that we combat this virus as best as possible.
“And we are ready. If we get the get-go from JCVI we are ready, the NHS which has been so successful in rolling out this programme of vaccination, is ready to go into schools and deliver that vaccination programme for children.”
Mr Williamson later added: “We obviously wait for the decision of JCVI. Probably a lot of us are very keen to hear that and very much hope that we’re in a position of being able to roll out vaccinations for those who are under the age of 16.
“I would certainly be hoping that it is a decision that will be made very, very soon.”
He said he could not give a timeline for when the decision is expected because the JCVI is a “completely independent committee”, adding: “They’re not there to take instructions from the Government.”
“They will reach a decision, I’m told and I understand, very, very soon,” he said.
People with conditions such as leukaemia, advanced HIV and recent organ transplants who are over the age of 12 will be given a third jab following a recommendation from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).
The announcement is separate to any decision on a booster programme, but it is understood news on that is expected soon.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid said the Government was continuing to plan for a booster programme to begin this month and said people most at-risk from Covid-19 would be prioritised for that.
The JCVI said it was still deliberating on the potential benefits of booster vaccines for the rest of the population and was awaiting further evidence to inform its decision.
No decision has been given either on any extension of the vaccine programme to include all healthy 12 to 15-year-olds.
Giving its recommendation on Wednesday, the JCVI said people who were severely immunosuppressed at the time of their first or second dose of vaccine may not have been able to mount a full response to vaccination, meaning they could be less protected than the wider population.
