THE mum of a teenager fighting sepsis and living with a connective tissue disorder says vulnerable youngsters need the Covid-19 jab as soon as possible.

Mum Debbie Hambleton, 46, from Laindon, is calling for sick children to be treated with the same priority as the older generations.

Her daughter Bethany, aged 16, is fighting sepsis and suffers from Ehlers-Danlos syndrome, a connective tissue disorder.

It comes as NHS figures show hundreds of families of vulnerable children in Southend and Basildon face uncertainty over the Covid-19 vaccine.

Mrs Hambleton added: “I am very concerned about this and it needs to be done soon so we can stop shielding.

“I can’t leave the house as I need to protect Beth and she can’t go past our front door – my husbands goes to work but gets testes regularly.

“We can’t have respite, or carers or tutors come in and it’s a strain on the family.

“It’s not a case that we don’t want it at all. I definitely want more done about it and think we should be in the same priority list as the older people.”

Across England there are more than 56,100 children under 18 on the Shielded Patient List of extremely vulnerable people.

But none of the approved vaccines have been tested for use on under 16s.

NHS Digital data shows that there are 240 children in Basildon on the Shielded Patient List.

Vulnerable children under 16 will not be offered the vaccine and it is unclear how they can be protected.

While in Southend there are 220 children in Southend on the Shielded Patient List.

The worried mum said: “The lockdowns are tough on children too and Beth can’t see friends and there’s lots of things we cannot do.

“She’s been doing okay healthwise but the sooner more people get the jab the sooner we can get back to some kind of normal life.

“It’ll means we can see friends and family again rather than doing everything online and on Zoom.”

The Government says that children and young people have a very low risk of contracting severe or deadly Covid-19 compared to adults, however there is an increased risk of exposure to infection and outbreaks in institutional settings.

The Green Book, which has the latest information on vaccines in the UK, says: “Vaccination may be considered for children with serious neuro-disabilities including cerebral palsy, severe autism and Down’s syndrome who spend regular time in specialised residential care settings for children with complex needs.

The call for a vaccine is also being made by the family of Kennedy Mercer, eight-years-old, from Grays. They say there’s so little information regarding extremely vulnerable children and the Covid vaccine and when they can expect it.