Covid-19 vaccine campaign

Campaign win: Priority access granted to Covid-19 vaccines for unpaid carers and clinically vulnerable children age 12-15 across the UK.  This campaign benefited more than 500,000 parent carers and children.

Families campaigned tirelessly for this over eight months, speaking out in the media, writing to the JCVI and more than 4000 of you signed our petition. We are proud to have worked alongside families to achieve this campaign win.

Watch Noah, George and their families on BBC Breakfast News or listen to their interview on the Radio 4 Today programme (at 1.45)  on why disabled children needed priority access to the vaccine.

Campaigning for under 12s

With no access to a Covid-19 vaccine for under 12s, this means thousands of families have no roadmap out of lockdown.

We will continue to campaign for all clinically vulnerable children to be offered a Covid vaccine, without which many will continue to shield, unable to return to school and everyday life.

Sara Meredith from Walsall, whose 7-year-old son Daniel has complex medical needs and is registered blind, says:

We’ve been shielding for a year and we feel like the forgotten vulnerable. I haven’t hugged my daughters for a year as we are shielding from them too. We’ve had no other carers in so I’m physically and emotionally exhausted. We want to know what the plan is for Daniel and children like him.

Sara Meredith

What families have told us

Our survey, conducted with 3000 families in March 2021, found:

• 86% of parents with disabled children have been offered a Covid-19 vaccine; 2 in 3 were offered as unpaid carers.
• 70% want their shielding or disabled children to have a Covid-19 vaccine when it has been licensed for use in children
• 1 in 10 would like access to a Covid-19 vaccine unlicensed right now, but only 3 in every 200 parents that try have been successful in getting it unlicensed.

Read the full survey findings

What we have been doing

Contact has been urging the JCVI and government to give the green light to clinically vulnerable to get a vaccine and to do so quickly.

Read our letter to the Joint Committee on Vaccines and Immunisation (JCVI) and their response to our campaign.

More than 4000 of you signed our petition calling for unpaid carers and clinically vulnerable children to be prioritised for covid vaccines.

“Thank you for all the work Contact does for disabled children – in general, but particularly during Covid times. I listened to your contribution on the Channel 4 News and was really impressed and I am sure that has contributed to making the JVCI come to a decision at last that considers some vulnerable children (12-15) for vaccination.  I know you will continue to fight for all the other children like my son who desperately need the vaccine so he can return to school.”

Parent quote

Advice about getting a covid vaccine

Please see our vaccine questions and answers page.

Celebrate getting your vaccine

Celebrate getting your covid jab with our Facebook profile picture frame