UK plans COVID-19 vaccinations for children from August: Telegraph

FILE PHOTO: A socially distanced Father Christmas waves at children inside the ZSL London Zoo, on the first day of its reopening since lockdown restrictions ease, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, London, Britain December 2, 2020. REUTERS/John Sibley/File Photo

(Reuters) - Children in Britain will start receiving a COVID-19 vaccine as early as August under provisional government plans to push for maximum national immunity from the coronavirus, The Telegraph reported on Tuesday.

That timeline would be months earlier than expected, the newspaper said https://bit.ly/395T1jh, citing two sources involved in the plans.

Government officials are waiting on the findings from a child vaccine study being run by Oxford University on the vaccine it has developed with AstraZeneca Plc before making a final decision on the rollout.

The Telegraph report said safety data from the study of 300 volunteers aged between 6 and 17 was expected shortly, with conclusions due in June or July. Oxford University did not give a date for the completion of the study at the time of its launch last month.

The UK Department Of Health and Oxford University did not immediately respond to Reuters' request for comment outside office hours on Tuesday.

(Reporting by Radhika Anilkumar in Bengaluru; Editing by Chris Reese and Jane Wardell)