COVID vaccine invites for 12 to 15-year-olds in England being sent out next week

Published

3 years ago

September 13, 2021

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The government has accepted the recommendation from the UK’s chief medical officers that children aged 12 to 15 should be offered a first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine and invitations will start being sent out next week.

Making the announcement in the Commons, Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said: “We will now move with the same sense of urgency we’ve had at every point in our vaccination programme.”

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said: “I have accepted the recommendation from the Chief Medical Officers to expand vaccination to those aged 12 to 15 – protecting young people from catching COVID-19, reducing transmission in schools and keeping pupils in the classroom.

“I am very grateful for the expert advice I have received from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation and UK Chief Medical Officers.”

It comes after the chief medical officers said offering jabs to 12 to 15-year-olds would be a “useful tool” in reducing disruption to their education.

In their advice to the government, they said they were making the recommendation on “public health grounds” and it was “likely vaccination will help reduce transmission of COVID-19 in schools”.

The move means around three million children will now be eligible for the jab, which is expected to be administered through schools.

The consent of parents, guardians and carers will be sought prior to vaccination, but the Health Secretary told Sky News last week that children would get the “final say” over whether or not they get a jab.

Addressing this in his statement to MPs, Mr Zahawi said: “In the rare event that there is a situation a parent does not consent but the child or the teenager wants to have the vaccine, then there is a process by which the school age vaccination clinician will bring initially the parent and the child to see whether they can reach consensus and if not, if the child is deemed to be competent, then the vaccination will take place.”

Analysis by Ashish Joshi, health correspondent

Recognising the potential for sending mixed messages, Professor Chris Whitty explained why there was no conflict.

The JCVI had a narrow remit, only to look at the immediate health impact of vaccination on these children.

But, and this is the key difference, the CMOs looked at the much wider impact of COVID-19 on this age group including disruption to education, mental health, protection from long COVID, the impact of isolation on social skill development and so on.

When looked at in this way, it was decided the vaccination offers much more than a marginal health gain.

This makes sense.

But to have two key decisions that look like they disagree with each other makes public health communication problematic.

Parents are already confused and conflicted.

Prof Whitty says he has no regrets over the messaging saying instead he would regret getting the decision wrong.

Professor Wei Shen Lim from the JCVI told me he did not feel undermined. Of course they are both correct.

Two separate panels looking at the same issue through two separate lenses are likely to arrive at different outcomes.

The explanation stands up to scrutiny.

But successful vaccination programmes rely on high take up. Unfortunately that might have been undermined by the way the advice has been delivered.

The minister told the Commons that vaccines “are our best defence against this virus”.

“Our jabs have already prevented over 112,000 deaths, more than 143,000 hospitalisations and over 24 million infections,” he said.

“They have built a vast wall of defence for the British people.”

He added that there is a “comprehensive” surveillance strategy in place to monitor the safety of the COVID vaccines and continued: “It is important to remember that our teenagers have shown great public spirit at every point in this pandemic. They have stuck to the rules so that lives could be saved and people kept safe.

“They have been some of the most enthusiastic proponents of vaccines. This is at least in part because they have experienced the damage that comes with outbreaks of COVID-19.”

Labour’s shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said the party backed the government’s approach, but urged ministers to provide as much information to parents as they can.

He also posed a series of questions to the vaccines minister, including whether parental consent would be needed and whether the jabs would be administered through an existing NHS programme for other vaccines for children.

Mr Zahawi said in response that the NHS was “incredibly efficient and well equipped” in providing inoculations to children already and that an existing programme which visits schools would be used for the COVID jabs.

But Tory MP Dr Caroline Johnson said she was not “comfortable” with vaccinating teenagers to avoid “educational disruption”, while former party leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith warned of the risk of “family disputes” over whether children should take up the offer of a jab.

Conservative MP and former minister Steve Baker urged the government to guarantee that “a child’s ability to receive an education equally with their peers will never be linked to their vaccination status”.

Mr Zahawi said in response: “That will not be used in any way. The whole purpose of this is to accept the clinical advice and protect children.”

The recommendation from the CMOs followed a decision from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation not to recommend mass vaccination of 12 to 15-year-olds on health grounds alone.

Explaining the rationale for their decision, the JCVI said the virus poses a very low risk to healthy children and inoculating them would only provide a marginal benefit.

But they did say that other issues, such as education, should be taken into account and considered by the CMOs in making their final decision.

Speaking earlier at a Downing Street news conference, the JCVI’s Professor Wei Shin Lim said there was “no conflict” between the stances of the JCVI and the CMOs, adding that the JCVI had looked at the question from a health perspective.

Mr Zahawi said further guidance would be sought from the JCVI before any decision is made on whether to offer second doses.

Speaking on the eve of Prime Minister Boris Johnson setting out his winter plan to manage COVID in the months to come, the vaccines minister told MPs that the government wanted to deliver an “ambitious” programme of booster jabs.

Politics

‘Politicians mess it up every time’: New pre-election pledges may not be enough

Published

25 mins ago

April 25, 2024

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'Politicians mess it up every time': New pre-election pledges may not be enough

June gives me a wry smile when I ask her if she trusts politicians. But it soon fades.

“They promise you the Earth, and you don’t see anything. And it’s soul destroying,” she says.

I meet her and husband Joe as they tuck into fish and chips in the town’s oldest chippy, the Peabung, which has served this town since 1883.

June tells me she really wants to trust politicians but they “just mess it up every time”. I ask Joe if he thinks politicians care about him? “Well hopefully they do. I’m not sure really.”

He stops to think for a moment. “I don’t really trust politicians,” he says.

The findings of a Sky News/YouGov poll are stark and echo how voters like June and Joe feel. The findings suggest voters no longer believe what politicians say.

In some places, there appears to be a deep loss of faith in British politics.

Shannon Donnelly has nearly 200,000 followers on TikTok and has used the platform to develop her Grimsby-based business selling personal safety equipment, such as panic alarms. I ask her if she trusts politicians.

“No – I think things like Brexit has massively changed people’s opinion. I won’t forget when they said all that money would go to the NHS.

“Now we seem to be in a worse position, but they still expect us to trust them. It’s crazy.”

The percentage of Leavers saying they “almost never” trust the government has leapt by 33 points (from 23% to 56%) since the last election. This is twice as much as the increase for Remainers.

Shannon’s lack of trust impacts on her livelihood and she says she doesn’t know which way to turn.

“For the business, obviously, it’s important to look at what they will do. We’re struggling. VAT is insane, overheads are crazy.”

Asked if people think politicians care about them, 83% of people asked said no, with just 11% saying they cared a little.

When asked how much do politicians care about your part of the country – there is a clear divide – 86% of people living in the north of England say they don’t care, whereas just 47% of Londoners say their elected representatives don’t care about their city.

Brian Wustrack owns the oldest fish and chip shop in Grimsby.

“They’re just not listening to the people that voted, it’s all a one-way system for them. They’ve lost touch with the people out there, especially the people in the North.”

The prime minister is still to announce the date of the next general election.

However, places like Grimsby and Cleethorpes are key election battlegrounds now. Support for the Conservatives may be fading but that won’t necessarily translate into strong support for Labour.

The Reform party is gaining ground in pro-Leave constituencies like this one, picking up their 2019 Tory voters.

But brace yourself for a raft of promises in the next few months.

The questions is will voters trust politicians to deliver on them.

The Politics Hub with Sophy Ridge is going to be live in Grimsby tonight with a special programme in our Target Towns series. She’ll be talking about trust in politics with a live audience – that’s live tonight on Sky News at 7pm

ALL THE CANDIDATES IN NORTH EAST LINCOLNSHIRE’S LOCAL ELECTIONS

Croft Baker
Gemma Harney – Liberal Democrats
Marian Jervis – Labour Party
Graham Reynolds – Conservative Party

East Marsh
Lloyd Emmerson – Liberal Democrats
Barry Miller – Labour and Co-operative Party
Callum Procter – Conservative Party

Freshney
Tamzin Barton – Liberal Democrats
Tanya Brasted – Conservative Party
Paul Bright – Independent (part of Independents for North East Lincolnshire party group)
Paul Wood – Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC)
Samantha Wrexal Holborrow – Labour Party

Haverstoe
Stephen Hocknell – Liberal Democrats
Val O’Flynn – TUSC
Bill Parkinson – Conservative Party
Ian Townsend – Labour Party

Heneage
Brian Barrett – Liberal Democrats
Emma Clough – Labour Party
Tyrone Curran – Conservative Party
John Stiff – TUSC

Humberston & New Waltham
Ryan Aisthorpe – Liberal Democrats
Joe Carter – TUSC
Hayden Dawkins – Conservative Party
Pauline Kaczmarek – Labour Party

Immingham
David Barton – Liberal Democrats
Trevor Crofts – Conservative Party
Nathan Newton – TUSC
David Watson – Labour Party

Park
Robson Augusta – Labour Party
Zach Kellerman – Liberal Democrats
Dave Mitchell – TUSC
Daniel Westcott – Conservative Party

Scartho
Charlotte Croft – Conservative Party
Caroline Ellis – Liberal Democrats
Dan Humphrey – Labour Party
Val Pow – TUSC

Sidney Sussex
Andy Burton – Liberal Democrats
Alexandra Curran – Conservative Party
Mark Gee – TUSC
Edward Kaczmarek – Labour Party

South
Paul Batson – Conservative Party
Jane Bramley – Independent
Andrew Harrison – Liberal Democrats
Sheldon Mill – Labour Party
Bill Ward – TUSC

Yarborough
Les Bonner – Independent (part of the Independents for North East Lincolnshire party group)
Sam Brown – Labour and Co-operative Party
Phil Tuplin – TUSC
Christine Vickers – Conservative Party
Aharon Wharton – Liberal Democrats

Politics

A crisis of trust in our politics spells trouble for the government

Published

25 mins ago

April 25, 2024

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A crisis of trust in our politics spells trouble for the government

The morning after the 2019 general election, Boris Johnson pledged to people in the North East who had voted Conservative for the first time that he and the party would “repay your trust”.

That year was the Brexit election, and the Conservatives ultimately won because they and Mr Johnson were trusted to “get Brexit done” – Jeremy Corbyn was not.

Five years on, exclusive polling by YouGov for Sky News finds that since then, the number of people saying they “almost never” trust the British government to place the needs of the nation above the interests of their own party has nearly doubled – from 26% to 49%.

This spiralling level of distrust has been greatest for the bedrock of the Conservative’s electoral coalition – those who voted to leave the EU in 2016.

The percentage of Leavers saying they “almost never” trust government has leapt by 33 points (from 23% to 56%) since the last election – twice as much as the increase for Remainers.

It is the sort of people who live in places like Grimsby and Cleethorpes, which voted heavily to Leave the EU – by nearly 70% – who have lost most trust in British politics since 2019.

A disconnected politics

Our polling reveals a deep loss of public faith in British politics since the last election.

This is all the more remarkable given the “rally” in public trust enjoyed by the government at the height of the pandemic.

Nearly three-quarters of voters believe politicians don’t care what people like them think – this has risen from 51% to 73% over the past five years.

There has been a similar rise in the number of people who feel politicians in Westminster ignore the issues they care about – up from 50% to 67%.

A geography of discontent

Despite Mr Johnson’s pledge to repay the trust of new Conservative voters in the North, and promises of “levelling up”, there is a widespread view outside London that politicians in Westminster don’t care very much or at all about their part of the country.

The percentage of people saying politicians don’t care “at all” about their region is highest in Wales at 47% and the north of England at 39%.

This feeling is higher among Leave voters – 42% – than Remain voters -24%.

Five years of Conservative government has not delivered the legacy of trust hoped for by Mr Johnson.

‘They are all the same’

Perhaps most telling of all, the public currently see the parties as more like each other than at any election since 1964 – when polling records began.

Voters are more likely than ever before at 40% to say there is not much difference between Labour and the Conservatives, and less likely than ever to say there is “a great deal of difference” between them at just 12%.

This contrasts with 2019 when 47% of people said there was a great deal of difference between the parties.

Trust is about delivering on promises

Our research has found that across the world, one of the most important things needed for voters to consider politicians to be trustworthy is that they stick to their word and do what they say – so we asked whether the parties try to keep their promises.

Some 71% of people think the Conservative Party do not try to keep their promises, notably including 61% of 2019 Conservative voters.

Views on Labour are more mixed, with 47% of people saying they don’t try to keep their promises and 27% saying they do.

For the government, this deep public antipathy spells trouble for the next election.

In many parts of the country, voters feel politicians don’t care what they think or care about their area, ignore the issues that matter to them, and don’t offer a meaningful choice at the ballot box.

If Labour does benefit from a prevailing mood of public distrust at that election, its honeymoon may not last long as it will soon face the same winds of discontent.

Politics

Biden’s 44.6% capital gains tax proposal likely a ‘nothing burger’

Published

53 mins ago

April 25, 2024

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Biden’s 44.6% capital gains tax proposal likely a ‘nothing burger’

President Biden’s move to introduce a 44.6% federal capital gains tax probably wouldn’t affect most people in crypto, according to crypto tax commentators.