Vaccines Minister Nadhim Zahawi said in a House of Commons speech tonight that the vaccination of healthy 12-15 year-olds would go ahead from the beginning of next week – and confirmed that children, not their parents, would have the final say about whether to get jabbed. MailOnline has more.
Mr. Zahawi also reiterated the safety of the vaccine for children, saying the decision to offer the jab to 12 to 15 year-olds had followed advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) and had been “unanimously approved” by the U.K.’s Chief Medical Officers.
“We will now move with the same sense of urgency we’ve had at every point in our vaccination programme,” he added.
It comes as parents, experts and teaching unions today warned of tension in schools after the U.K. signed off on plans to offer Covid jabs to healthy 12 to 15 year-olds – which will see children get the final say on whether they are vaccinated.
Around three million under-16s are due to start getting their jabs from next week after Chris Whitty endorsed the move today, claiming it would help prevent outbreaks in classrooms and further disruptions to education this winter.
Doses will be largely administered through the existing school vaccination programme and parental consent will be sought.
But children will be able to overrule their parents’ decision in the case of a conflict if they are deemed mature and competent enough, which has caused fury.
Angry parents fumed against the move to leave the decision with young children who “can’t even decide what they want for tea, never mind” a vaccine, which carry small risks of side effects such as heart inflammation.
Professor Simon Clarke, a microbiologist at the University of Reading who is in favour of jabbing children, warned that giving youngsters the final say could lead to pupils being bullied by their peers into taking the jab.
He told MailOnline: “It will cause rows I think… You may end up in a situation where a minority, it will probably be the unvaccinated, get bullied and excluded by other children.”
Earlier headteachers revealed they had already received letters from pressure groups threatening legal action if schools take part in an under-16 vaccination programme.
The teachers’ union NAHT demanded urgent reassurance medics will be responsible for concerns about consent and vaccination rather than being left to schools, which could lead to tension with parents.
Children’s rights campaign group Us for Them said it needed a “cast-iron guarantee” from the Government that all parents would get the final say on whether their child is vaccinated.
Professor Whitty revealed today that children will be able to override their parents’ decision if they pass a “competence assessment” by the medical professional charged with administering the vaccine.
Under decades-old medical law used for other routine vaccines, youngsters get the final say if they are judged to have sufficient intelligence to be able to fully understand – and therefore consent to – vaccination.
Worth reading in full.
Stop Press: Sarah Knapton, the Science Editor of the Telegraph, points out that Chris Whitty’s recommendation was distinctly lukewarm, which is bound to create confusion among parents.
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Stoopid is as stoopid does…
They’d rather go broke than admit their utopian ideas exist only in their heads.
Indeed. Morons. They deserve to go bankrupt.
I do feel sorry for the small businesses in the close area, who played no part in this woke utopia.
I agree.
Can’t stop laughing
Hahahahahahah.
“A ‘woke’ theatre in Paris known for its radical Leftist shows faces bankruptcy …”
Oh dear, never mind.
Well at least some good will come from this. Not exactly a loss to “art” although the loss of the next door bistro is nigh on criminal as a result of the actions of these firkers.
‘Academics from top universities’ More like complete and utter simpletons. Who pays these people? Really?
Funded by taxpayers probably.
The government should DO something!
Oh, hold on. Paris’s Socialist-led council is the government.
Don’t worry though. The theatre won’t go bust. The Conseil de Paris will stump up some cash somehow and will still get voted in again next election. It’s a PR system so they can’t be ousted by any right-of-centre party.
It must be a really good performance if they refuse to leave.
Bis!
I believe the production was called
A comedy of errors.
It’s Waiting for Godot. They’re still waiting.
You’d need a heart of stone not to laugh.
“They sit around smoking joints”. Where do they get the money to buy them?
WHERE do they get them, plus food or did they bring in months of supplies with them? Turn the water supply off to the building and I reckon they’d likely move out after a day or so
Woke idea meets reality, exhibit number 17283.
Yup. “I repeatedly kicked a concrete wall, and now my foot hurts!”.
Yeah but the concrete wall won’t do that again – whatever it was.
The analogy with the situation at a country level would be complete if the theatre was running a clown show.
Perfect.
Or run by the Marx Brothers!
Tant pis.
Théâtre de l’absurde, mes amis.
Oh the folly. Cheered me up no end
They’re being frightened away by all these young men.
Same as usual – just men of fighting age.
When stupid, pompous, bien pensant ideas meet reality. Hilarious.
You’d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh!
Theatre of the absurd
That’s not a very gracious attitude. You get a free show and then you take over the building. I wouldn’t put up with something like that I mean I would deal with the sheer effrontery and brass neck very harshly. If you haven’t got the balls to do that then you aren’t a man. And it wouldn’t even be difficult for them to make an example of these miscreants.
It’s good to see Evil Leftists Get Their Comeuppance!
“Reinventing the welcome for refugees in France.”
Oh the irony!
Tres amusant
Stupid communist females. I presume their biological psychology kickes in when they saw these strapping, forceful, manly Africans, and they started flirting with them.
These low IQ natives are a danger to us all. What did they expect…..oh yes, they still think all the worlds people’s are just like white, higher IQ Europeans. When are they going to learn?
Kick out all Africans and Indians, Pakistanis and many middle easterners, and any other persons feom themed would countries. They are almost always trouble, and the majority of them are on welfare and in housing paid for by the hard earned taxes of white Europeans. Time to accept reality as it smacks you in the face. Facts are uncomfortable and often emotionally imlactful – it proves you wrong.
Where is there any mention of females, communist or otherwise?
Not all women are dangly-earring-wearing socialists or beardy-weirdos.
Get back in your shed until you think of a helpful and legal way to get authorities to end this uncontrolled migration nightmare.
Being played out on a grander scale in any country near you.
Probably it’s a waiting room until their UK dinghy’s are ready
Go woke, go broke.
Well done you lefty morons.
You’d need a heart of stone not to laugh