Call for more transparency around JCVI recommendations for childhood vaccination against COVID-19
The most recent statement of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) on 3 September recommended that only 12-15 year olds with specific underlying health conditions receive the Covid-19 vaccine, despite their risk benefit analysis showing marginal benefit for all 12-15 year olds.
No minutes from JCVI meetings discussing Covid-19 are available since 16 February 2021. The three public statements in July, August and September on whether to rollout vaccination to all 12-17 year olds lack transparency. Unlike previous statements on vaccine priority groups, dose interval and the use of the AstraZeneca vaccine, the statements on childhood vaccination do not contain the detail needed to understand or assess their decision on the balance of the risk- benefit, and fall short of the requirements for openness set out in the committee’s Code of Conduct (see Annex). In this short statement we highlight where transparency is needed and call on the JCVI to make the missing information publicly available.
