London Daily

Focus on the big picture.
Thursday, Jul 10, 2025

Chris Whitty warns MPs it is ‘inevitable’ unvaccinated children will catch Covid

Chief medical officer says transmission in England highest among 12- to 15-year-olds
The rapid spread of Covid makes it “inevitable” that children will be infected and have their education disrupted, making a strong case for vaccinating those aged 12 and over, the government’s leading medical advisers told MPs.

Prof Chris Whitty, the chief medical officer for England, rejected suggestions from one Conservative MP that “white boys” who have previously contracted Covid should be exempt from vaccination, saying that discrimination on that basis wasn’t practical or desirable.

Whitty and Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, the deputy chief medical officer, appeared before the Commons education committee over the decision to offer Covid vaccines to 12- to 15-year-olds, after the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation (JCVI) had said the benefits were too small.

Vam-Tam told MPs that “lower [risk] does not mean anything close to zero” for children in the age group because of the Delta variants higher infectiousness.

“We are not looking at a theoretical risk of children, 12 to 17, becoming infected. I think it is really quite inevitable that they will be at some point.

“The point of infection, if left to happen, is not of their choosing, and may be at a point in their educational careers, thinking particularly of GCSEs and A-levels when it is extremely inconvenient to be laid low, albeit for a short number of days, with cough, fever, and respiratory symptoms,” Van-Tam said.

Whitty told MPs said any time in school missed through being inoculated should be balanced against the longer period lost to those who were infected. “You’re not comparing a child being vaccinated against nothing happening, you’re comparing a child being vaccinated against a near-certainty that child will get Covid,” Whitty said.

The appearance by the medical leaders, including Prof Wei Shen Lim of the JCVI, came after new figures showed that Covid infections have spread rapidly inside England’s schools, following the government’s decision to end the use of preventitive measures such as masks, social distancing and self-isolation.

Robert Halfon, the Conservative MP who chairs the committee, asked if the witnesses acknowledged there was “low transmission” of Covid among the 12-15 age group.

Whitty replied: “That is not true, there is definitely substantial transmission happening in this age group. In fact the age group we are talking about is the one in which the highest rate of transmission is currently occurring, as far as we can tell.”

He added that it was a “reasonable stab” to estimate that 50% of children in England had already had Covid, leaving many still at risk, and noted that children in deprived areas were at the greatest risk of seeing their education disrupted.

Caroline Johnson, the Conservative MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham, asked: “Why not vaccinate just those children? We know that children from black and ethnic minoroity groups are more at risk from Covid.”

Whitty responded: “I’m not convinced that feels to me like an effective public health intervention,” adding that such discrimination would not be desirable.

But Johnson – a medical doctor – went on to ask Whitty if the risks to some “white boys” from vaccination made it justified.

“Just to be really clear on this, if you’re a parent in a rural area with relatively low levels of Covid disruption so far, who is white, male, and already certainly had Covid and tested positive for Covid before, is the vaccine still, for that child, in their benefit?” Johnson said.

Whitty said trying to differentiate between children was difficult: “It’s not obvious to me what gain you get from this, given that even at an individual level, benefits marginally exceed harms, as the JCVI laid out.

“So I think if you tried to design a programme where you actually said, ‘the government refuses to vaccinate the following people,’ if you actually wrote it down I think you’d find it quite difficult to put something out that both made sense and was actually deliverable.

“At a certain point, public health is about pragmatism and about saying, what is to the benefit of the people who are the most disadvantaged, which is our starting point.”
Newsletter

Related Articles

0:00
0:00
Close
Severe Heatwave Claims 2,300 Lives Across Europe
NVIDIA Achieves Historic Milestone as First Company Valued at $4 Trillion
Declining Beer Consumption Signals Cultural Shift in Germany
Linda Yaccarino Steps Down as CEO of X After Two Years
US Imposes New Tariffs on Brazilian Exports Amid Political Tensions
Azerbaijan and Armenia are on the brink of a historic peace deal.
Emails Leaked: How Passenger Luggage Became a Side Income for Airport Workers
Polish MEP: “Dear Leftists - China is laughing at you, Russia is laughing, India is laughing”
BRICS Expands Membership with Indonesia and Ten New Partner Countries
Weinstein Victim’s Lawyer Says MeToo Movement Still Strong
U.S. Enacts Sweeping Tax and Spending Legislation Amid Trade Policy Shifts
Football Mourns as Diogo Jota and Brother André Silva Laid to Rest in Portugal
Labour Expected to Withdraw Support for Special Needs Funding Model
Leaked Audio Reveals Tory Aide Defending DEI Record
Elon Musk Founds a Party Following a Poll on X: "You Wanted It – You Got It!"
London Stock Exchange Faces Historic Low in Initial Public Offerings
A new online platform has emerged in the United Kingdom, specifically targeting Muslim men seeking virgin brides
Trump Celebrates Independence Day with B-2 Flyover and Signs Controversial Legislation
Boris Johnson Urges Conservatives to Ignore Farage
SNP Ordered to Update Single-Sex Space Guidance Within Days
Starmer Set to Reject Calls for Wealth Taxes
Stolen Century-Old Rolls-Royce Recovered After Hotel Theft
Macron Presses Starmer to Recognise Palestinian State
Labour Delayed Palestine Action Ban Over Riot Concerns
Swinney’s Tax Comments ‘Offensive to Scots’, Say Tories
High Street Retailers to Enforce Bans on Serial Shoplifters
Music Banned by Henry VIII to Be Performed After 500 Years
Steve Coogan Says Working Class Is Being ‘Ethnically Cleansed’
Home Office Admits Uncertainty Over Visa Overstayer Numbers
JD Vance Questions Mandelson Over Reform Party’s Rising Popularity
Macron to Receive Windsor Carriage Ride in Royal Gesture
Labour Accused of ‘Hammering’ Scots During First Year in Power
BBC Head of Music Stood Down Amid Bob Vylan Controversy
Corbyn Eyes Hard-Left Challenge to Starmer’s Leadership
London Tube Trains Suspended After Major Fire Erupts Nearby
Richard Kemp: I Felt Safer in Israel Under Attack Than in the UK
Cyclist Says Police Cited Human Rights Act for Riding No-Handed
China’s Central Bank Consults European Peers on Low-Rate Strategies
AI Raises Alarms Over Long-Term Job Security
Saudi Arabia Maintains Ties with Iran Despite Israel Conflict
Musk Battles to Protect Tesla Amid Trump Policy Threats
Air France-KLM Acquires Majority Stake in Scandinavian Airlines
UK Educators Sound Alarm on Declining Child Literacy
Shein Fined €40 Million in France Over Misleading Discounts
Brazil’s Lula Visits Kirchner During Argentina House Arrest
Trump Scores Legislative Win as House Passes Tax Reform Bill
Keir Starmer Faces Criticism After Rocky First Year in Power
DJI Launches Heavy-Duty Coaxial Quadcopter with 80 kg Lift Capacity
U.S. Senate Approves Major Legislation Dubbed the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
Largest Healthcare Fraud Takedown in U.S. History Announced by DOJ
×