Rush To Jab Kids

1.4million 16 and 17 year olds next in line | Children over 12 could also soon be eligible

- Ben Glaze

Health chiefs are in a race against time to jab 16 and 17 year olds amid fears the new school year will turbocharge a fourth wave of coronavirus.

Some 1.4 million teens will be offered a shot before the autumn term starts, just four weeks from now.

And England’s Deputy Chief Medical Officer Prof Jonathan Van-Tam told a Downing Street press conference: “There’s no time to waste in getting on with this.”

He declared it was “full speed ahead” to jab the youngsters after the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation recommended offering the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine – the only one approved in the UK for those aged 12 and up.

The 16 and 17-year-olds will not need parental consent.