The UK government has announced that children aged five to eleven will be offered a COVID vaccine.

This follows advice from the Independent Joint committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) which concluded that the move would help protect the "very small" number of children who become seriously ill with COVID.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid says the rollout will be "non-urgent", with an emphasis being put on parental choice.

Northern Ireland also said on Wednesday it will be following Wales and Scotland in offering young children the vaccine.

"Children without underlying health conditions are at low risk of serious illness from Covid-19 and the priority remains for the NHS to offer vaccines and boosters to adults and vulnerable young people, as well as to catch up with other childhood immunisation programmes," Javid said.

"The NHS will prepare to extend this non-urgent offer to all children during April so parents can, if they want, take up the offer to increase protection against potential future waves of Covid-19 as we learn to live with this virus", he added.

It is understood precise details of the expansion of the vaccine programme will be set out soon.

Up to 6 million children will receive the Jab

The vaccine - which contains just a third of the adult dose - has already been used widely in other countries. The US alone has given it to eight million children in this age group.

The UK medical regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA), approved the Pfizer vaccine for use in children five to 11 last year.

The MHRA announced in December that a special "paediatric formulation" of the Pfizer vaccine was safe for use among that group.

They will be offered a much lower dose of the vaccine than what is offered to adults or children aged 12 and over; which is about two 10 microgram doses of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, with at least 12 weeks between each dose.

Children aged from five to 11 who have other medical conditions that put them at greater risk are already eligible for the vaccine.

In total, about six million children in the UK in that age group will be offered the jab.