People opposed to giving the Covid-19 vaccine to children have been protesting in Maidstone.

Groups gathered in The Mall shopping centre this morning and took to Week Street with signs and loud speakers.

Watch as protestors walk through Week Street. Credit: Nicola Rainsley-Hughes

Video of the protestors, who also appear to be against lockdown restrictions, shows one man shout: "Take your mask off, take our freedom back."

They walked through the busy street to the sound of an air raid siren just after 2pm.

One waved a big yellow flag which read 'We stand for freedom". On the other side was a discoloured Union Jack.

Yesterday, research from the Office for National Statistics was published which showed 88% of parents of under 18s said they would either definitely or probably allow their children to have the vaccine.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation is set to advise the government on vaccinating over 12s later in the summer.

Vaccination would be one solution to the spiralling number of children out of class due to self isolation.

Earlier this week we reported how a snapshot of absence rates showed 12,000 children in Kent alone were out of lessons in one week in June.

Prof Anthony Harnden, deputy chair of the JCVI, told the BBC: “JCVI are very aware of the issues surrounding both the pros and the cons of vaccinating their children, which we will talk about in due course, but actually what we need to be absolutely sure is that these vaccines benefit children in some way... so we are looking at this data very carefully.”

But Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies' member Prof Calum Semple said not enough data was available to say for sure whether vaccinating under 18s was a good idea.

He told the BBC: “Vaccines are safe but not entirely risk-free. We are aware in adults about clots, and there’s some safety data from America showing rare heart problems associated with some of the vaccines. So until that data is really complete for children, I’m not persuaded that the risk benefit for children has been clarified.

“There’s very nuanced debate going on here but at the moment I don’t think there’s enough evidence to support vaccinating children.”

Meanwhile Boris Johnson and new health secretary Sajid Javid have both stressed all the data suggests lockdown restrictions will be lifted on July 19, four weeks later than planned.

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