Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, for what reason the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation was asked to review vaccination against covid-19 of children aged 12 and above instead of all year 7 pupils.

The Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) provides advice on use of authorised vaccines in the population. There are currently no vaccines authorised for use in under 12 year olds in the United Kingdom, therefore the JCVI reviewed vaccination for children aged 12 years old and over. This will include some, but not all children in year 7 at the time of initial vaccine deployment in schools.