Calendar An icon of a desk calendar. Cancel An icon of a circle with a diagonal line across. Caret An icon of a block arrow pointing to the right. Email An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of the Facebook "f" mark. Google An icon of the Google "G" mark. Linked In An icon of the Linked In "in" mark. Logout An icon representing logout. Profile An icon that resembles human head and shoulders. Telephone An icon of a traditional telephone receiver. Tick An icon of a tick mark. Is Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes. Is Not Public An icon of a human eye and eyelashes with a diagonal line through it. Pause Icon A two-lined pause icon for stopping interactions. Quote Mark A opening quote mark. Quote Mark A closing quote mark. Arrow An icon of an arrow. Folder An icon of a paper folder. Breaking An icon of an exclamation mark on a circular background. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Caret An icon of a caret arrow. Clock An icon of a clock face. Close An icon of the an X shape. Close Icon An icon used to represent where to interact to collapse or dismiss a component Comment An icon of a speech bubble. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Comments An icon of a speech bubble, denoting user comments. Ellipsis An icon of 3 horizontal dots. Envelope An icon of a paper envelope. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Camera An icon of a digital camera. Home An icon of a house. Instagram An icon of the Instagram logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. Magnifying Glass An icon of a magnifying glass. Search Icon A magnifying glass icon that is used to represent the function of searching. Menu An icon of 3 horizontal lines. Hamburger Menu Icon An icon used to represent a collapsed menu. Next An icon of an arrow pointing to the right. Notice An explanation mark centred inside a circle. Previous An icon of an arrow pointing to the left. Rating An icon of a star. Tag An icon of a tag. Twitter An icon of the Twitter logo. Video Camera An icon of a video camera shape. Speech Bubble Icon A icon displaying a speech bubble WhatsApp An icon of the WhatsApp logo. Information An icon of an information logo. Plus A mathematical 'plus' symbol. Duration An icon indicating Time. Success Tick An icon of a green tick. Success Tick Timeout An icon of a greyed out success tick. Loading Spinner An icon of a loading spinner. Facebook Messenger An icon of the facebook messenger app logo. Facebook An icon of a facebook f logo. Facebook Messenger An icon of the Twitter app logo. LinkedIn An icon of the LinkedIn logo. WhatsApp Messenger An icon of the Whatsapp messenger app logo. Email An icon of an mail envelope. Copy link A decentered black square over a white square.

Scotland ‘ready’ to give kids Covid vaccine if JCVI recommends jab for under-12s

Nicola Sturgeon spoke about giving kids Covid vaccine.
First Minister Nicola Sturgeon spoke of vaccinating children during her Covid briefing in the Scottish Parliament.

Covid vaccinations will be offered to some children under the age of 12 this week, with Scotland ‘ready’ to jab all five to 11-year-olds if advised.

Appointments will be offered from this week to children in that age group with medical conditions which put them at greater risk from coronavirus.

Children under-12 who live with people who are immunosuppressed will then be offered the vaccine, after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) ruled in December this group should be given it.

And during her Covid briefing on Tuesday, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said Scotland ‘stands ready’ to vaccinate all five to 11-year-olds if the JCVI recommends that.

However parents had mixed views on whether they would be willing to get their children vaccinated when we hit the streets of Dundee to gauge opinions.

Poll: Should we give kids Covid vaccine?

The JCVI is considering evidence on the benefits of the vaccine for children under-12, as the rapidly spreading Omicron variant saw thousands in Tayside and Fife absent from school last week.

Ms Sturgeon said parents and carers of those in that age group already eligible will be contacted and offered their first dose “from this week onwards” – first those who are medically at greater risk and those who are household contacts of immunosuppressed people “in due course”.

She added: “We stand ready to quickly implement any updated advice from the JCVI about vaccinating all five to 11-year-olds.”

Booster jabs for 16 and 17-year-olds and second doses for 12 to 15-year-olds, who had their previous dose at least 12 weeks previously, can now be booked online or are available at drop-in centres.

Appointments for booster jabs are also to be offered by letter to 12 to 15-year-olds at particular clinical risk 12 weeks after their last primary dose.

Both the Scottish Government and UK Government take advice from the JCVI on the vaccination roll-out.

Other countries, including the US, China, Germany and Spain are already vaccinating those aged 5-11 and in the UK the Medicines and Healthcare Products Regulatory has ruled the Pfizer vaccine safe for under-12s.

Should we be vaccinating children aged 5 to 11 against Covid? Dundee parents have their say

Covid Scotland: All you need to know on vaccines for 5 to 11-year-olds

Covid vaccine for children: Addressing parents’ worries about risk will ensure uptake if offered to 5-11s says professor