Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government why the recommended waiting period between the first and second COVID-19 vaccination for children changed from 28 days to three months; and what steps they took to notify the parents of those children who received their second COVID-19 vaccination before the change took place of the reasons for this change.

The recommended interval between the first and second dose has not changed from 28 days to three months.

On 15 November the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) advised that young people aged 16 to 17 years old who are not in an at-risk group should be offered a second dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech (Comirnaty) COVID-19 vaccine. The second dose should be given 12 weeks or more following the first. Individuals aged 12 to 17 years old in clinical at-risk groups should continue to receive their second dose eight weeks after the first. Their individual risk of severe outcomes from COVID-19 is higher and therefore outweighs any benefit of delaying to 12 weeks. From 22 November, healthy 16 to 17 year olds have been able to book a second vaccination.