Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what investigations they have undertaken into the effect of COVID-19 vaccinations on boys between the ages of 10 and 15.

The Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency’s (MHRA) surveillance strategy for monitoring the safety of all United Kingdom-approved COVID-19 vaccines includes child and adolescent age groups. The MHRA reviews the Yellow Card reports received in males and females aged under 18 years old, with safety data from international medicines regulators. The experience reported in those under 18 years old, including in the different sex and age subgroups of 5 to 11, 12 to 15 and 16 to 17 year olds, is similar to that identified in the general population. A review of these reports does not raise any additional safety topics specific to any of the subgroups.

As has been observed in adults, there have been a small number of reports involving inflammation of the heart in individuals under 18 years old in the UK and internationally. Since this is a recognised potential risk with the mRNA vaccines, Pfizer/BioNTech and Moderna and the MHRA are monitoring these events. These appear to be more frequent in younger males compared to females but are very rare. The events reported are typically mild with individuals usually recovering within a short time with standard treatment and rest.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation advise that Pfizer/BioNTech is currently the preferred COVID-19 vaccine for those under 18 years old in the UK vaccination programme. The current data does not indicate that there is an increased reporting rate of suspected myocarditis and pericarditis in this age group overall compared to young adults for this vaccine. The MHRA continues to monitor the safety of the COVID-19 vaccines and the advice remains that the benefits of the COVID-19 vaccines outweigh the risks in the majority of people.