Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of vaccinating secondary pupils against covid-19; and whether tests on children aged over 11 have been undertaken on the safety of the covid-19 vaccine for that age group.

At present, there is very limited data on vaccination in adolescents with no data on vaccination in younger children. The Joint Commission on Vaccination and Immunisation advises that only those children at very high risk of exposure and serious outcomes, such as older children with severe neuro-disabilities that require residential care, should be offered vaccination as part of phase one. The Green Book also sets out that children under 16 years of age, even if they are clinically extremely vulnerable, are at low risk of serious morbidity and mortality and given the absence of safety and efficacy data on the vaccine, are not recommended for vaccination. Vaccine trials including on those under 18 years old are the responsibility of vaccine developers. We are aware of a number of planned COVID-19 vaccine trials in children and will monitor the results closely.