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10.25pm BST
A Conservative MP who works as an NHS doctor has insisted she is not comfortable" with the reasoning behind giving Covid vaccines to 12 to 15-year-olds in England, PA reports.
Dr Caroline Johnson was among several Tory MPs to raise concerns with the policy after the vaccines minister Nadhim Zahawi confirmed children in that age group in England will be offered a first dose of the Pfizer/BioNTech jab.
Related: UK children aged 12 to 15 to be offered Covid jab
I have given many vaccines in my time, including hundreds more recently of Covid vaccines. But I am not comfortable with vaccinating teenagers to prevent educational disruption.
No child needs to isolate under current rules if they are a contact - only if they are a positive case and the maximum in that case would be eight days of schooling. That is if they caught it during term time.
Where there is a dispute we say that the school makes a decision as to whether or not that child has the capacity to make that decision.
Now, we know, and this is the point, the pressure will grow on the child. This greater good concept which says Well the school may be in trouble if you don't take the vaccine and your class may be in deep difficulty'.
He mentioned in his question it would lead to teachers having to - actually it is quite the opposite, it is not the teacher's responsibility to do this, it is a qualified clinician.
The school age vaccination programme is very well equipped to do this, to do this in a discrete and careful way with parents and children, but the bulk of vaccinations - this would be in the very rare occasions - the bulk of vaccinations will only be conducted if there is parental consent.
That will not be used in any way. The whole purpose of this is to accept the clinical advice and protect children.
Related: How will the Covid vaccine rollout to 12-to-15-year-olds in UK work?
9.35pm BST
I have accepted the unanimous recommendation from the UK Chief Medical Officers to offer vaccination to those aged 12 to 15.
This will protect young people from catching COVID-19, reduce transmission in schools and help keep pupils in the classroom.