7 August 2021
We have been extremely frustrated by the delay in getting invitations out to children who have Down’s syndrome aged 12-15, who are now eligible for a COVID-19 vaccination.
We have been robustly challenging NHS and Public Health officials to keep to their promise that all eligible children will be offered a vaccine before the start of the school term.
Please be assured that we are fighting the corner of every individual who has Down’s syndrome and lots of activity has been taking place behind the scenes. We will share any updates we receive as soon as we are able.
19 July 2021
It has been announced that people aged 12 to 15 who have Down’s syndrome should now be offered Covid-19 vaccinations.
In an announcement made by the Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised children at increased risk of serious Covid-19 disease are to be offered the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. This includes children aged 12 to 15 with severe neurodisabilities, Down’s syndrome, immunosuppression and multiple or severe learning disabilities.
We are extremely pleased about today’s announcement and have been fighting to get younger children vaccinated for months now. We know the announcement will be hugely welcomed by the many families we represent.
We participated in a meeting earlier today where Professor Anthony Harnden, Vice Chair of the JCVI and one of his GP colleagues from JCVI, along with Professor Adam Finn, outlined the careful consideration that has been given to analysing all of the evidence that led them to make this announcement.
We are pleased that children 12 -15 years will now be offered the same protections from the Covid-19 vaccination in the way that 16 year olds and over were prioritised for a vaccine earlier in the year.
Under existing advice, young people aged 16 to 17 with Down’s syndrome should have already been offered a vaccination.
The JCVI is not currently advising routine vaccination of children outside of these groups, based on the current evidence.
The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine is the only vaccine that has been authorised for children in the UK, for those aged 12 or older. This followed a US clinical trial in around 1,000 children aged 12 to 15 that found side effects in this group were generally short lived and mild to moderate.
As always, the DSA are here to answer any questions people might have and would encourage anyone with a query to look at the coronavirus section of our website and follow our social media channels for the latest news.
Update 30 July 2021: Eligible children in England will be offered a first dose vaccination before returning to school in September. Therefore, it is expected that first dose vaccinations for eligible children aged 12-15 to be operational from week commencing 23 August at the latest, with invitations issued in advance.