Over 80,000 teens booked in for COVID jab this half term

More than 80,000 young people aged 12 to 15 have booked their COVID-19 vaccination since online bookings opened just four days ago, NHS England has said.

As the extra option for getting children vaccinated came online on Friday night, bookings are now being taken up at a faster pace, with almost 33,000 bookings yesterday alone.

Around half a million young people in this age group have already been jabbed.

Over 2.5 million ‘follow up’ letters are landing on doorsteps this week inviting parents and children to book a vaccination online through the National Booking Service.

If a child has already been invited through their school, they do not need to act on their invite unless parents wish to get their child vaccinated outside of school.

Commenting on the news that 80,000 12-15-year-olds have been booked in online to receive their Covid vaccinations during half term, Paul Whiteman, general secretary of school leaders' union NAHT, said: “It’s right that families who want to get their child the jab are able to do so as quickly as possible. It’s important that the in-school vaccination programme is still given full support in order to keep the momentum up after half term. Measures other than vaccination also need to be prioritised – ventilation and air monitoring urgently needs to be improved.”