Covid vaccination guidance for schools published

The Department for Education has released guidance for schools on the coronavirus vaccination programme for 12 to 15 year olds, to understand their involvement and help them answer any questions they may get.

The guidance says the vaccines will be administered by healthcare staff working closely with the school and following the usual approach to school-based immunisation.

A local SAIS provider has been asked to work with schools to plan for the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccinations for 12 to 15 year olds. The SAIS will be the primary provider of the vaccination programme for healthy 12 to 15 year olds and will be legally responsible for the delivery of the vaccine.

The SAIS provider will be contractually responsible for the service, as they are for other school vaccination programmes. The expectation is that the vaccination programme will be delivered primarily within schools but there might be certain areas or certain schools where this is not possible.

For those aged 12 to 15 years consent will be sought by the SAIS provider from the parent or person with parental responsibility in the same way as for any other school vaccination programme.

A consent form and information leaflet provided by the SAIS team will be used to seek parental consent. Parents will also be provided with a contact number for the SAIS team in case of any queries. Forms should be returned by the deadline agreed with the team. You may be asked to collect these forms from parents on behalf of the SAIS provider team or it may be done electronically.