FINAL advice for vaccinating children aged between five and 11 against covid has been given to and accepted by the Welsh Government - meaning that all in the age bracket will be offered the vaccine.

Welsh Government health minister Eluned Morgan said today – February 15 – that she has received the final advice from the Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and accepts their recommendations.

The JCVI will publish the advice they have given in due course.

Previously, only children considered to be at-risk and aged between five and 11 were offered the vaccine. One in four children in this group in Wales have already received their vaccine.

Ms Morgan said: “I have accepted this advice and thank the JCVI for scrutinising the science and evidence and setting out its advice in a careful and considered way. Our intention, as it has been from the start of the pandemic, is to follow the clinical and scientific evidence.”

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She said she will be asking health boards to consider the issue of equity within their operational planning and that the Welsh Government will work with Public Health Wales and the health boards to ensure there is age-appropriate factual and trusted information about the potential benefits and risks of vaccination for the age range.

Ms Morgan continued: “I would encourage all families with children between the ages of five and 11, who are not in any clinical at-risk groups, to visit the Public Health Wales website for information about vaccination and to begin a conversation about whether they want to take up this offer.”

The Welsh Government will be publishing an update of their vaccination strategy next week which will provide further detail about the offer of vaccinations for five to 11 year-olds once the JCVI has published their advice.

Ms Morgan said: “Vaccination is the most important thing we can do to protect ourselves and our children against ill health. They prevent up to three million deaths worldwide every year.”