Vaccines approved for children between 12 and 15 in UK

Britain on Monday announced that it will follow other countries — including the U.S. and Canada — in offering COVID-19 vaccines to children ages 12 and older as they ramp up efforts to avoid another lockdown this winter.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is expected to announce the new plan at a news conference on Tuesday as part of a “tool kit” to contain a possible surge in COVID-19 infections this fall and winter, according to The Associated Press.

While the government’s vaccine advisers said that vaccinating children would only offer marginal benefits, the chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have recommended children between the ages of 12 to 15 receive a single dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Though the U.K. has yet to decide if children will receive a second dose, they will receive the first dose through their schools. 

This is in an effort to both limit transmission in schools and to prevent children from transmitting COVID-19 to more vulnerable groups. 

Though virus cases are now 10-times higher in the nation than at this time a year ago and more than 8,000 people are hospitalized with COVID-19, the government unexpectedly tabled a proposal to require proof of vaccination for clubs and other crowded locations, according to the AP.

A spokesperson for Johnson said that nightclubs had not caused “significant cases or hospitalizations” since reopening, according to the news outlet. 

In addition to changes in guidance regarding vaccinating children, Johnson is expected to relinquish some emergency powers on Tuesday including the ability to shut down businesses and schools and to restrict gatherings.

He is also expected to announce that mask-wearing, working from home and other rules that were lifted this summer could return if COVID-19 cases continue to climb.