Unvaccinated children should expect to catch virus, Chris Whitty warns

Children who refuse to receive the covid vaccine should expect to catch the virus “sooner or later”, warned Chris Whitty.

He said: “The great majority of children who have not currently had covid are going to get it at some point.”

“It won’t be necessarily in the next two or three months but they will get it sooner or later because this is incredibly infectious […] vaccination will reduce that risk.”

Boys and girls aged between 12-15 will be offered the vaccine too after the chief medical officer said children would benefit from reduced disruption to their education.