NHS Opens Online Covid-19 Vaccination Bookings For 12-15 Year Olds

Published: 22 October 2021

Parents will be able to book covid-19 vaccinations online for their 12-15 year old children from the end of today (Friday) with appointments available as soon as tomorrow, the NHS has announced.

People will be able to go online and check the National Booking Service to see if their local site has appointments to vaccinate children and young people, as the NHS covid-19 vaccination programme continues at pace.

The booking service will provide an additional option for parents to book a vaccine for their child, alongside the schools programme which has already vaccinated nearly half a million young people and visited thousands of schools.

If a child has already been invited through their school, they do not need act on their invite unless parents wish to get their child vaccinated outside of school.

The move is an expansion of the existing programme, providing parents with an extra option, as the biggest and fastest vaccination programme in health history continues to protect people against the virus.

Parents and guardians will be advised to attend vaccination sites with their children if they want them to get jabbed outside of school hours and consent will be sought on the day. Parents and young people are being asked to read the patient information in advance of arriving for their appointment. This can also be accessed online.

The NHS has said that it is a new option for parents who may want to get their child vaccinated during half term.

The National Booking System can be used to book appointments for a first dose for 12 to 15 year olds in Devon at:

• Home Park, Plymouth, PL2 3DQ
• Greendale Vaccination Centre, Woodbury Salterton, Exeter, EX5 1EW
• English Riviera Centre, Chestnut Avenue, Torquay, TQ2 5LZ
• Barnstaple Leisure Centre, Seven Brethren Bank, Sticklepath, Barnstaple EX31 2AP

As more sites come online, parents will have the extra offer of getting their children vaccinated at existing vaccination centres across the country, including GP practices, community pharmacies and other convenient local sites. Parents are being advised to keep checking the NHS.uk as more appointments and sites become available.

Millions of letters will be sent to parents and guardians of children aged 12 – 15 over the coming weeks inviting them to book the vaccine online or by calling 119 as the NHS Covid-19 vaccination programme continues at pace.

More than 83 million vaccines have already been delivered and nearly 9 in ten adults have had their first dose since the NHS in England made history when Margaret Keenan received the first jab outside of a clinical trial in Coventry, in December 2020.

The NHS booster vaccine rollout is also well underway with more than four million people already receiving the important top up jab ahead of winter in just four weeks since the JCVI updated its guidance.

Anyone receiving a text or letter inviting them for a booster jab should come forward as soon as possible to get crucial protection.

NHS Devon’s Chief Nurse Darryn Allcorn said: “Covid-19 rates are currently highest among people of school age in Devon. Many are passing the virus on to their parents and other family members. With so much Covid-19 currently in schools, we know that not everyone has been able to have the vaccine.

“We strongly recommend young people take up the opportunity to have the Covid-19 vaccination whether in school or at one of our local vaccination centres.  It will reduce their chance of feeling very unwell and having further disruption to their education if they catch Covid.  It will also help to protect family and friends.”

Dr Nikki Kanani, GP and deputy lead for the NHS vaccine programme, said: “As we head in to October half term, the NHS Covid-19 vaccination programme is opening up vaccine centres to young people aged 12 to 15 as another way to get their vaccine – if they have already received their vaccine or been invited through their school then they do not need to do anything.

“The decision to get vaccinated has always been a private choice between a child and their parent or guardian – my 13-year-old son received his vaccine at school on the same day I had my booster dose in a local pharmacy. I would urge families to look at the information together and then book in to give children and their loved ones crucial protection ahead of winter.”

Parents or guardians will be able to book their child in for a single dose of the Pfizer vaccine through the online booking service or they can ring 119.

The NHS has been vaccinating 16- and 17-year olds with a single dose since the start of August, with hundreds of thousands already protected.

Earlier this month, the NHS encouraged pregnant women to get the COVID-19 vaccine as data showed that nearly 1 in 5 of the most critically ill COVID patients were unvaccinated pregnant women.