Fact Check-Britain’s vaccine advisory body did not say the risks outweigh the benefits for inoculating children

A self-described lawyer has misquoted Britain’s vaccine advisory committee on its advice about administering COVID-19 shots to 12- to 15-year-olds in England.

Anna de Buisseret, previously fact-checked by Reuters here and here, falsely claimed in a Sept. 21 video that the government went ahead with vaccinating children despite the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) concluding that COVID-19 vaccines pose more risks than they give benefits.

“As things have transpired with the JCVI saying that the risks to the children outweigh the benefits, and then of course it has been U-turned and they’re going ahead with it anyway,” says de Buisseret in the eight-minute clip, viewed more than 10,000 times (here , here , here and here).

She adds that “several parents” have approached her “literally in tears” over the rollout, before expanding on her claim.

“The JCVI, who are the ethics committee and experts, are saying that the risks outweigh the benefits […] These are experimental trials.

“There are people who still think these [vaccines] are fully authorised, fully tested, and don’t realise these are in phase two/phase three clinical trials running concurrently – and they finish in April 2023 for Pfizer.”

Reuters has previously addressed false claims that COVID-19 vaccines are yet to complete clinical trials (here , here and here). Authorised vaccines have been subject to the usual clinical and safety standards for new medicinal products, while continued safety monitoring after trials is normal practice.

De Buisseret’s comments about the JCVI are also false, according to a representative for Public Health England, who spoke to Reuters via email.

The JCVI published its advice to government on vaccinating 12- to 15-year-olds on Sept. 3 (here). It advocated inoculating those with specific underlying health issues but stopped short of encouraging the same for otherwise healthy children.

“Overall, the committee is of the opinion that the benefits from vaccination are marginally greater than the potential known harms but acknowledges that there is considerable uncertainty regarding the magnitude of the potential harms,” the report said.

“The margin of benefit, based primarily on a health perspective, is considered too small to support advice on a universal programme of vaccination of otherwise healthy 12 to 15-year-old children at this time. As longer-term data on potential adverse reactions accrue, greater certainty may allow for a reconsideration of the benefits and harms. Such data may not be available for several months.”

VERDICT

Partly false. While the JCVI did advise against a universal vaccination campaign of 12- to 15-year-olds, it did not say the risks of vaccination outweighed the benefits.

This article was produced by the Reuters Fact Check team. Read more about our fact-checking work here .