The British government is set to press on with additional COVID-19 vaccination today in spite of experts questioning the benefits of booster campaigns.

Yesterday the government decided to offer vaccines to children aged 12 to 15 while today it is expected to announce a booster campaign for over-50s.

The Lancet yesterday published an expert review arguing for limited benefits from boosters. The experts, including senior doctors at the World Health Organization, argue it is better to release vaccines for unvaccinated populations in order to control the pandemic. However, the UK is to offer booster doses to 32 million adults over 50, it was reported today. Recipients will only be offered mRNA vaccines, it was reported.

Meanwhile, the UK decision to vaccinate children came with the support of the country’s four chief medical officers, who overruled advice from the Joint Committee on Vaccination that it may not be necessary. They said they had consulted most royal colleges in reaching their decision. The Chief Medical Officers said vaccination would “on balance” reduce transmission in schools – and would reduce educational disruption. The recommend, at first, the use of a single dose of the Pfizer mRNA vaccine.

GP leaders said the decision on vaccination of children was “finely balanced” and should be left to children and their parents. Royal College of GPs chair Professor Martin Marshall said: “We would encourage children and their parents to consider the potential benefits that vaccination can bring, both in terms of their individual health, and looking at wider factors such as schooling.It is important that parents, children and young people are not pressurised into a decision or castigated for it, whether they opt for the vaccine or not.

“There is still a sizeable minority of adults who have yet to receive a first dose and we are particularly concerned about the numbers of unvaccinated patients being admitted to hospital with Covid or other conditions. Every effort must be made to encourage these adults to have the vaccine as a priority.”

Prime Minister Boris Johnson is due to say today: “The pandemic is far from over. Thanks to our phenomenal vaccine programme, new treatments and testing, we are able to live with the virus without significant restrictions on our freedoms.”