Babies will be given a Covid vaccine in the UK for the first time, health officials have announced. 

Clinically vulnerable children aged between six months and five years old will be able to get a Covid vaccine following new advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

Healthy children that are not classed as clinically vulnerable will not be able to get the jab. 

Data from more than one million Covid vaccinations given in the US show the paediatric course of the Pfizer mRNA Covid vaccine is safe and well tolerated, with side effects reportedly the same as for other childhood vaccinations. 

The MHRA approved the use of Covid vaccines in clinically vulnerable under-5s in December 2022 and following today’s JCVI advise parents will be called forward to get their child immunised from mid-June. 

Parents should wait to be contacted before coming forward, the UKHSA has said. 

'Best way to increase protection for most vulnerable'

Professor Wei Shen Lim, Chair of the JCVI’s COVID-19 Committee, said: “For the vast majority of infants and children, COVID-19 causes only mild symptoms, or sometimes no symptoms. 

“However, for a small group of children with pre-existing health conditions it can lead to more serious illness, and for them, vaccination is the best way to increase their protection.”

Young children are generally at low risk of developing severe illness from Covid but those with serious health conditions are over seven times more likely to be admitted to Paediatric Intensive Care Units with a coronavirus infection. 

The JCVI has advised that eligible children in clinical risk groups will be offered two 3-microgram doses of the Pfizer vaccine, with at least eight weeks between doses. 

'Covid not going away'

Dr Mary Ramsay, Head of Immunisation at the UK Health Security Agency, said: “COVID-19 is still in circulation, with thousands of new cases reported every week. 

“The extra protection offered by the vaccine could be important for young children in clinical risk groups, who are at greater risk of severe illness. 

“The virus is not going away so I would encourage all parents to bring their child forward if they are eligible. Parents should wait to be contacted by their local health professionals.”

Health and Social Care Secretary Steve Barclay said: “Children are at very low risk of harm from Covid.

“However, there are a very small number of children with health conditions which make them particularly vulnerable, and for those children we want to give parents the choice as to whether they wish to vaccinate their at risk child or not.

“I have accepted advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation on vaccinating children aged from 6 months to 4 years who are in a clinical risk group. It is a parental decision, and this advice is simply to enable parents of children with medical conditions to choose if they wish to have the protection.”