Just half of children in England want a Covid vaccine, according to the biggest study of its kind.
Researchers surveyed more than 27,000 nine to 18-year-olds across the country earlier this year ahead of the controversial plans to jab healthy secondary school pupils.
Exactly 50 per cent were willing to have the vaccine, while a third (37 per cent) were undecided and 13 per cent wanted to opt out.
Younger children were less willing to get vaccinated than older teenagers, of whom the majority said they would accept a jab. Youngsters who had previously tested positive or believed that they had survived Covid already were more likely to decline a vaccine.
The research was carried out by the University of Oxford, University College London (UCL) and the Cambridge University. Among the main authors were UCL's Professor Russell Viner and Professor Sir Andrew Pollard of Oxford, who sit on influential panels advising No10.
Britain began inoculating healthy 12 to 15-year-olds children with a single dose of Pfizer's vaccine for the first time last week.
It did so despite originally not getting the blessing from No10's vaccines advisory panel, which said the health benefit to youngsters was 'marginal'.
The Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) left the decision to Chris Whitty and the chief medical officers in the devolved nations.
They signed off on the plans on the basis it could prevent hundreds of thousands of school absences. Health chiefs have yet to disclose exactly how many newly-eligible children have taken up the vaccine.
Younger children were less willing to get vaccinated than older teenagers, of whom the majority said they would accept a jab. Youngsters who had previously tested positive or believe that they had Covid already were more likely to decline a vaccine
Researchers surveyed more than 27,000 nine to 18-year-olds across the country earlier this year ahead of the controversial plans to jab healthy school pupils. Exactly 50 per cent were willing to have the vaccine, while a third (37 per cent) were undecided and 13 per cent wanted to opt out
Fourteen-year-old Jack Lane became one of the first to benefit from the extension of Britain's jab rollout to children last week at Belfairs Academy in Leigh-on-Sea, Essex
Teenagers aged 16 and 17 have been invited for a jab since August.
Overall, more than a million under-18s have been jabbed so far, including children who were prioritised earlier on in the vaccine drive because they have underlying conditions.
The latest survey was carried out in schools across Berkshire, Buckinghamshire, Oxfordshire and Merseyside between May and July this year.
Students who were more hesitant about getting the jab were also more likely to spend longer on social media, attend schools in deprived areas, and feel as though they did not identify with their school community, the study found.
