All children in England aged five to 11 are to be offered two doses of a Covid vaccine, Sajid Javid announced on Wednesday.
The Health Secretary accepted the advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) to make a “non-urgent offer” from April for youngsters in this age group to have two 10mcg doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech paediatric vaccine, with a gap of at least 12 weeks between them.
The NHS is already offering the coronavirus vaccine to at-risk children and those who live with immunosuppressed people in this age group.
Mr Javid said: “The JCVI advice follows a thorough review by our independent medicines regulator, the MHRA, which approved Pfizer’s paediatric vaccine as safe and effective for children aged five to 11.
“Children without underlying health conditions are at low risk of serious illness from Covid-19 and the priority remains for the NHS to offer vaccines and boosters to adults and vulnerable young people, as well as to catch-up with other childhood immunisation programmes.
“The NHS will prepare to extend this non-urgent offer to all children during April so parents can, if they want, take up the offer to increase protection against potential future waves of Covid-19 as we learn to live with this virus.”
The JCVI emphasised that children aged five to 11 are generally at very low risk of serious illness from Covid.
It stressed that only a very small number of children who get infected do develop severe disease, with some being hospitalised.
It added that latest evidence suggested that offering the vaccine ahead of another potential coronavirus wave will protect these youngsters and also give some short-term protection against mild infection across the age group.
However, Professor Wei Shen Lim, chair of Covid-19 immunisation on the JCVI, emphasised: “Other important childhood vaccinations, such as MMR and HPV, have fallen behind due to the pandemic.
“It is vital these programmes continue and are not displaced by the rollout of the Covid-19 vaccine to this age group.”
In England, around one in 13 children (7.6 per cent) from age two to school Year 6 (pupils aged ten to 11) are likely to have had Covid-19 last week, the highest level for any age group, according to the Office for National Statistics.
This is down from one in nine, or 11.5 per cent, the previous week.
For children in school years 7 to 11 (secondary school years) the estimate was around one in 16 (6.3 per cent), down week-on-week from one in 11 (8.7 per cent).
Britain led the initial roll-out of the Covid jab and has also had a strong booster campaign, but the take-up of the vaccine has been slower among children aged 12 and over than compared to some other countries.
She said Scotland would follow Wales in accepting the recommendations from the JCVI, which submitted its verdict to ministers more than a week ago, with reports of wrangling in the Westminster government over the move given the very low risk to youngsters from the disease.
Ms Sturgeon said: “Throughout the pandemic it has been our intention that we follow the clinical and scientific evidence available to us and I’d like to once again thank the JCVI for their hard work in scrutinising the science and providing clear guidance.”
Discussions with health boards on the best way of delivering vaccinations to five to 11-year-olds have already begun, she added.
On Tuesday, Wales’s health minister Eluned Morgan said it was a “shame” and “perplexing” that the JCVI advice had not been published earlier as she announced jabs would be available there.
The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency approved the Pfizer Covid-19 vaccine for use in children aged five to 11 last year.
After the announcement, the JCVI said the vaccine should be offered to at-risk children in this age group, and thousands have been vaccinated already.
