Covid-19 vaccines now available children in Brighton and Hove

Youngsters who are in a clinical risk group or who live with someone who is in immunosuppressed are now able to get the first dose of the Covid vaccine.

Eligible children include those with diabetes, immunosuppression, learning disabilities and other conditions as outlined by the UK Health Security Agency.

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Parents and guardians should wait for the NHS to contact them for when it is their child’s turn to get the vaccine.

All of the GP led vaccination services in Sussex have signed up to offer appointments to this group and will be arranging appointments over the coming weeks.

All eligible children will be offered two 10 microgram doses of the Pfizer vaccine eight weeks apart – a third of the amount used for adult vaccinations.

Covid vaccines available for at-risk children aged five to 11 in Brighton and Hove

The NHS is also reminding parents and guardians that their children can continue to get protection from flu with millions of reminder texts, letters and emails going out next week.

More children than ever are eligible for a free flu vaccine this winter, including all two and three-year-olds and all pupils from reception age to school leavers.

Young people aged four to 16 will have been offered the flu vaccination through their school, but parents can phone 119 to find out how to book a jab if they do not have an appointment planned in school already.

The UK Health Security Agency also urges pregnant women to get vaccinated as latest data reinforces previous findings on the safety of Covid-19 vaccines in pregnancy.

The latest data shows that vaccinated women who gave birth between January and October 2021 had a very similar low risk of stillbirth, low birthweight and premature birth compared to women who were not vaccinated in pregnancy.

Out of 235 pregnant women who were admitted to intensive care with Covid-19 between January and September 2021, none had received two doses of vaccine.

The latest analysis shows that women who had received at least one dose of Covid-19 vaccine during their pregnancy and gave birth between April and October 2021 were more likely to give birth without any of the reported adverse outcomes than women who had not been vaccinated in pregnancy (92.9 per cent compared with 91.6 per cent).

Professor Lucy Chappell, Chief Scientific Adviser at the Department of Health and Social Care and a consultant obstetrician, said: “It’s really promising to see the number of pregnant women who were vaccinated at time of birth almost doubling in just 2 months and should be hugely reassuring for other women thinking about getting the jab.

“The data also show that outcomes for babies continue to be reassuringly similar for vaccinated pregnant women compared to unvaccinated pregnant women.

“The vaccines are the best possible way for a pregnant women to protect herself and her baby – we urge pregnant women to get their vaccine, whether it’s their first dose, second dose, or booster, as soon as you can.”