Top Tories urge parents to get children vaccinated as school Covid cases surge

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi and Health Secretary Sajid Javid issued a plea to families to encourage 12 to 15-year-olds to get the Covid jab

Top ministers have urged parents to get their children vaccinated as a Government target to offer jabs to all 12 to 15-year-olds by half term looks set to be missed.

Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi and Health Secretary Sajid Javid penned a joint letter to parents to encourage youngsters to get the jab and continue with testing.

It comes amid fears the UK’s vaccine rollout is faltering as only 9% of younger teenagers in England had been vaccinated by October 3.

Meanwhile, around one in 15 secondary school pupils had Covid-19 in that week, according to the Office for National Statistics – the highest positivity rate for any age group.

It was up from one in 20 the previous week.

Officials were aiming to offer jabs to the majority of 12 to 15-year-olds by half term but with only weeks to go, hopes are fading that the target will be met.

In a joint letter to parents, Mr Zahawi and Mr Javid said: “We know that some of you will be concerned about the health risks to the young people you care for.

“We want to reassure you that the evidence shows that young people remain at very low risk of serious illness from COVID-19.

“However, we need to continue to reduce the spread of COVID-19. Young people who get ill will need to miss school or college, and may spread it to others.

“That is why we are encouraging you all to support your children to get vaccinated and to continue to test regularly. This will help to detect cases early, reduce spread, and keep students in education.”

Pupils should continue to test themselves twice a week with lateral flows and consider wearing face masks in crowded spaces, they said.

Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders’ union NAHT, said soaring numbers of Covid cases were causing a “high level of disruption”.

He warned that the vaccine rollout was being hampered by the fact that children are missing their chances to get jabbed as they are already off sick and blamed the decision to axe Covid safety measures such as bubbles and isolation.

Mr Whiteman went on: “We can’t put all our eggs in one basket in the fight against Covid in schools. Testing is clearly important but it’s not a silver bullet.

“Investment and guidance needs to be there for all the different measures we have available to us: testing, vaccination, isolation, and ventilation.

“Only by pursuing a wide-ranging precautionary approach can we prevent illness from continuing to disrupt education this term.”

The UK’s Chief Medical Officers recommended a single dose of the Pfizer jab to all 12 to 15-year-olds last month, with rollouts being carried out in schools.