UK Ministers have accepted the recommendation and the NHS is making preparations to start giving first doses to around 1.4 million children.
Sixteen-year-olds will be offered a first coronavirus jab in the coming weeks and will not need the consent of their parents to get a vaccine.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has advised that the rollout should be extended to include 16 and 17-year-olds after reviewing the latest data.
Vaccination experts are yet to set out the timeline for when youngsters should get their second dose and will make further recommendations in the coming weeks.
Officials close to the programme said that under current UK guidance, if a child is able to understand the risks and benefits of any medical treatment then they can legally give consent without their parents' say-so.
The child or young person's consent is considered the most appropriate consent, even if a parent disagrees.
Professor Wei Shen Lim, Covid-19 chair of the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI), confirmed that 16-year-olds were able to get the jab without parental consent.
“In the UK a person who is 16 years and above is deemed able to consent for themselves, and if they are competent and able to consent for themselves then that consent holds,” he said.
It is understood officials are not ruling out vaccinations for otherwise healthy 12 to 15-year-olds but want to look at more information first.
At present, children over the age of 12 are only eligible for a vaccine if they have certain medical conditions which put them at risk from Covid-19 or teenagers who live with people who are immunocompromised.
Some commentators have welcomed the move to jab older teenagers, saying that extending the vaccine programme will help reduce infection rates and transmission of the virus as well as curb disruption to schooling.
Children will receive the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine, which has been approved for use in the UK for people aged 12 and over.
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