Sweden to stop offering Covid jabs to teenagers

STOCKHOLM: Sweden’s Public Health Agency said on Friday it was no longer recommending that children aged 12 to 17 get vaccinated against Covid-19, citing the “very low risk” for the group.

The new recommendation will come into force on October 31. “The decision means that as of November 1, 2022 only children in certain vulnerable groups are recommended to get and thereby offered vaccinations against Covid-19,” the agency said. In September, Britain lifted its vaccine recommendation for healthy children under the age of 11.

“Overall we see that the need for care as a result of Covid-19 has been low among children and young people... and has in addition subsided since the Omicron variant started spreading,” Soren Andersson, head of the Public Health Agency’s vaccination department, said in the statement.