All parents, or those with parental responsibility, are asked for consent and will usually make this decision jointly with their children. In secondary schools, some young people may be mature enough to provide their own consent. This sometimes occurs if a parent has not returned a consent form but the child still wishes to have the vaccine on the day of the session. Every effort will be made to contact the parent to seek their verbal consent. This is a well-established process which you will be familiar with from other school-based vaccination programmes.

In secondary schools, some young people will be mature enough to provide their own consent. Healthcare professionals from the Oxfordshire School-Aged Immunisation Team (SAIT) will speak to the young person and make every effort to contact the parent. These professionals have expertise in vaccinating young people and will be responsible for assessing whether they have enough understanding to self-consent (this is called ‘Gillick competence’).

This is a well-established process which you will be familiar with from other school-based vaccination programmes.

You can read the Green book of immunisation for more information on consent including Gillick competence – Consent: the green book, chapter 2 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

Yes. The vaccine is not mandatory. Parents will be asked to give their consent for the vaccine. Young people may express a wish to have the vaccine and may have the capacity to provide informed consent themselves.

Parents should be encouraged to speak to their children ahead of time so that there is agreement on consent in advance of the vaccination session.

If no consent is received, and the young person is not Gillick competent or does not want to be vaccinated, the immunisation will not proceed.

Young people who understand fully what is involved in a proposed procedure, such as vaccination, can legally give consent. This is known as ‘Gillick competence’. If no consent from a parent has been received, but the young person wants to be vaccinated and is judged to be Gillick competent by the healthcare professional, the young person can still be vaccinated.

In this case, Oxfordshire SAIT will make every effort to contact a parent, to try to reach agreement between the parent and young person. However, the parent cannot overrule the decision of a Gillick competent young person. You can read the Green book of immunisation for more information on consent including Gillick competence Consent: the green book, chapter 2 – GOV.UK (www.gov.uk)

SAIS providers will vaccinate all children aged 12 years and over on the day of the school visit. Young people in year 7 who are aged 12 years and have consented will be identified by SAIS and vaccinated at the same session, alongside pupils in years 8 onwards.

A follow-up offer will be made to any children who miss the first vaccination in their school. This will help to ensure that the following pupils can access the vaccine:

• those turning 12 years after the session
• those who were absent from school on the day
• those who have recently had a COVID-19 infection
• those who subsequently change their minds or take longer to reach a decision It is anticipated that this will be delivered outside of school settings to minimise any further disruption to education and other immunisation programmes.

16 and 17 year olds are already being offered a vaccination through the adult vaccination system. The NHS will contact 16 and 17 year olds when it’s their turn to get the vaccine, and they will be invited to attend a local NHS service.

Additionally, the Kassam Vaccination Centre in Oxford is offering walk in vaccinations to people aged 16 and 17 years (do check the NHS website for latest opening hours for walk ins before travelling) Find a walk-in coronavirus (COVID-19) vaccination site – NHS (www.nhs.uk)

For any children absent on the vaccination day catch-up arrangements will be put into place by the Oxfordshire SAIS team that will be shared with schools.

If a child is unwell on the day, the Oxfordshire SAIS team will decide whether to proceed with vaccination or not. For any children who want to be vaccinated but are unable for health or other reasons to have the vaccine on the day, there will be catch-up arrangements in place.

Serious allergic reactions to vaccination are very rare but tend to happen within a few minutes of the injection. The Oxfordshire SAIS team are all trained to spot and manage allergic reactions and so all children will be observed for 15 minutes. Children with allergies to common food items are not at higher risk of these serious allergies.

See www.nhs.uk/conditions/coronavirus-covid-19/coronavirus-vaccination/safety-and-side-effects for further information.

It is expected most vaccinations for 12 to 15 year olds will  happen at school during school hours.

All children in the eligible age group who do not attend school, for example those who are home educated or living in secure accommodation should be offered the vaccine. The Oxfordshire SAIS team has plans in place to offer vaccination to these children.

Yes. The Oxfordshire SAIS team is commissioned to vaccinate children in special schools.