COVID-19: Children as young as 5-years-old could be offered vaccine with decision 'expected' before Christmas

A decision on whether to vaccinate children as young as five against COVID could be made before Christmas, one of the government's top advisers on vaccines has said. Professor Wei Shen Lim, chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation's COVID-19 panel, said he would 'expect' his team to offer their advice on jabs for those between the ages of five to 11-years-old before Christmas. COVID case rates have been consistently high in school-aged children since September, but vaccines have only been offered to 12 to 15-year-olds since November - later than in many other countries.