COVID jabs have been approved for kids aged six months to four years old, regulators have announced.
The Pfizer jab has been authorised after meeting strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness, experts said.
GettyA Covid vaccine has now been approved for use in babies and infants[/caption]
The Medicines and Healthcare Regulatory Agency (MHRA) today said that no new safety concerns had been identified with the jabs.
The JCVI (Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation) will now have to decide whether or not the jabs should be given out.
Millions of Brits have already had their vaccines, which offer protection against Covid.
In February it was also announced that kids as young as five would be offered the jabs from April.
Read more on Covid-19
The dose for babies and infants will be smaller than that given to those aged five to 11.
It is given as three injections in the upper arm, with the first two doses given three weeks apart.
This is then followed by a third dose given at least eight weeks after the second dose.
The MHRA came to the decision after reviewing data from 4,526 participants.
In a statement, a spokesperson from the UK Health Security Agency said: “Following MHRA approval of the Pfizer-BioNTech covid vaccine for young children, aged six month to four years, JCVI will now further consider and make its recommendation to the Health Secretary in due course.”
It comes after data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) revealed that Covid cases have once again reached over one million in the UK.
Health chiefs also warned that a new variant is also doing the rounds.
The BQ1 Omicron offshoot is now dominant and makes up 50.4 per cent of infections, compared to 39 per cent last week.
Professor Stephen Powis, medical director at NHS England warned that this winter could be one of the most challenging for the NHS.
He said: “There is a new variant circulating – BQ1 – which is becoming the dominant variant and it seems likely that is going to drive further increases.
“In some countries in Europe that have it you can already see growth in hospital admissions. No doubt those pressures will increase.”
However, millions of Brits are now protected from a huge vaccine rollout and immunity from prior infections.
Cases are still lower than they were when Omicron first burst onto the scene.
This time last year, daily cases sat at over 53,000, with over 140 deaths being reported.