Danny Altmann, professor of immunology at Imperial College London, has disagreed with the argument that asymptomatic schoolchildren should be exempt from coronavirus testing to prevent them from missing out on lesson time.
Speaking on Times Radio, he added it “would be a good thing” for children over 12 years old to be vaccinated and that “the world would be a safer place” if first and second doses of the vaccine were distributed around the globe ahead of booster jabs in the UK.
On children being exempt from testing, Prof Altmann said: “From a medical scientific point of view, I’d say there’s nothing special about the virus in their lungs that can’t transmit through to their families, through to their schoolteachers, through to their colleagues.
“What’s special about an asymptomatic child? They’re as dangerous to the spread as anybody else.”
When asked whether children over 12 years old should be vaccinated, he said: “I think so, we’ll look across and see it being done very successfully in other countries, as is happening, and we’ll give way to that as well. I think that would be a good thing.”
On whether booster jabs should be given ahead of first doses around the world, he said: “If you forced me to say, I’d say the world would be a safer place with more of the world single and double-jabbed, so fewer people on the planet have the virus.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/global-health/science-and-disease/coronavirus-news-covid-vaccine-booster-jab-cases-deaths-hospitalisations/
