More than one-in-three GPs say they are comfortable vaccinating children aged 14 or older against COVID-19 even if their parents refuse to provide consent.

Responding to the AusDoc survey another third of GPs say they believe children in this age group are capable of understanding the implications and making the decision without their parents’ involvement, but would be too concerned about legal consequences to personally offer the vaccine.

AusDoc launched the survey on the back of an MJA article published this week argued strongly in favour of letting children undergo vaccination independently, even against their parents’ wishes.

“It is ethically permissible to vaccinate a young person from the age of 12 years requesting a COVID‐19 vaccine, even if their parents do not provide consent,” said paediatrician Professor John Massie and colleagues.