Will children get the coronavirus vaccine?

It's not unusual to have several vaccinations while growing up, but there is still no decision on whether children in the UK will be given injections to protect against coronavirus.

During the pandemic, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has given the government advice on vaccinations, including deciding which adult age groups needed to be vaccinated first.

The UK is on course to vaccinate all adults - and grown-ups should have been offered at least their first dose by the end of July - but it isn't clear if or when children will be given their first jab.

It's thought that when it comes to vaccinating children, instead of telling the government what they should or shouldn't do, the JCVI will prepare a list of options and potential consequences for the government to consider.

That means any decision on whether children will receive a Covid vaccine will be left to the government to decide.

So what are the reasons for and against vaccinating children?

Professor Anthony Harnden, a government vaccine adviser, told the BBC: "It is a complicated position to decide on the immunisation of children."

He added that there is also the moral issue of vaccinating children in the UK - who are at a low risk of becoming seriously ill - when the UK could send jabs to people in other parts of the world who are at-risk and remain unvaccinated.

"It is complicated but we will think through these issues deeply and give some really good advice," he said.

The World Health Organization (WHO) says wealthy countries like the UK should postpone their plans to vaccinate children and donate them to the rest of the world.

Prof Eleanor Riley, an immunologist at the University of Edinburgh, said: "If there was unlimited supply of vaccine we could keep going with the over-12s, but there isn't.

Children are at low risk of becoming seriously ill

One reason for not vaccinating children against coronavirus is that for those who catch it, it's unlikely that they will become seriously ill.

"Fortunately one of the few good things about this pandemic is children are very rarely seriously affected by this infection," said Prof Adam Finn from the JCVI.

"Children transmit Covid to some extent, although they rarely suffer badly from the disease themselves. If you offer them vaccines, then you put them at risk of possible side-effects - so there really needs to be some significant benefit to them, not just the indirect protection of adults from Covid-19," he said.

Vaccine side-effects

Vaccines are incredibly safe, but the risk or benefit of giving them to children has to be carefully considered.

It's not unusual for vaccines to make people feel unwell for a few hours after being jabbed because they spark the body's immune system into action. It means the body can react as if it's under attack and will be better prepared if it comes into contact with real disease.

There are some risks in taking any vaccine but serious side effects are very rare. However, an Oxford University trial on children aged six to 17 receiving the AstraZeneca vaccine was paused because of concerns it was making some younger adults very unwell.

The AstraZeneca injection is now only available for adults over 40.

However the Pfizer jab, another coronavirus vaccine, is still being given to younger adult age groups and the Health Secretary Matt Hancock says that Britain has enough Pfizer jabs on order to vaccinate children over 12, if a decision is made to do so.

Protecting others

One potential benefit of vaccinating children is it could save other people's lives.

Each year, some children in Britain aged from two to around 12 are given a nasal spray for flu, one of the reasons is to protect older grandparents.

It's been suggested that doing the same with Covid vaccines could help contribute to herd immunity - that's when the virus struggles to spread because so many people are protected.

The Covid vaccines look very good at disrupting the spread of the virus. Just one dose appears to cut the chance of catching the virus by at least half and even those that do still catch it are half as likely to pass it on.

What ages could be vaccinated?

Younger children do not appear to be major spreaders of coronavirus, so it could be that secondary school children are more likely to be offered a vaccine.

"There's certainly evidence of potential for transmission in secondary school ages, so vaccinating could have an impact on overall transmission," said Dr Adam Kucharski, from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine.

However, it's possible to have some protection from coronavirus if you have already come into contact with the disease.

More than a quarter of 16 and 17-year-olds in England already have antibodies in their blood - despite barely any of them being vaccinated.

Antibodies are tiny proteins that our immune systems produces when the body comes into contact with viruses.

So it could be decided that the UK has enough immunity to stop the virus spreading without vaccinating children.

What about other countries?

The US and Germany have approved vaccines for children aged between 12 and 15

Other countries around the world have approved vaccinating children.

The European Medicines Agency has approved the Pfizer coronavirus jab for 12 to 15-year-olds living in EU countries.

They said that the vaccine was "well tolerated" in children and there were no "major concerns" in terms of side-effects.

Following the announcement, Germany has said it will start vaccinating children over the age of 12 from 7 June.

Meanwhile the United States and Canada have both already authorised the vaccine for children of the same age.

In the UK, it's thought that the Prime Minister Boris Johnson will make an announcement on the decision over child vaccinations before the end of June.

Government vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi said the UK is ready to give vaccines to children if that decision is made, but added: "Our own regulator has not yet approved giving vaccines to children. You have to make sure the vaccines are incredibly safe before you give them to children."