Ministers are optimistic that COVID-19 vaccines will be offered to all 12 to 15-year-olds despite advisers recommending against it, News understands.
The Joint Committee for Vaccination and Immunisation said on Friday that, while it would widen the programme to include more children in that age group with health conditions, it was not recommending the widespread vaccination of their healthy classmates.
However, sources say the government is keen to offer vaccinations to all children in that age group - and think parents would find it reassuring.
COVID-19 and kids: Should we be worried.
The UK's four chief medical officers, including England's Chris Whitty, have been asked to make a final recommendation - which should come within a week.
The Times reported that the vaccinations could begin as soon as next week.
Earlier on Friday, the JCVI had said that the coronavirus presents only a small risk to healthy children and, therefore, the benefit of being vaccinated was not great enough to support mass vaccination for this age group.
The independent medicines regulator, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, has approved the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for those aged 12 and over.
Efforts are already under way to recruit thousands of vaccinators for schools, and Education Secretary Gavin Williamson has previously said he "very much hopes" the under-16s could be vaccinated.
Last month, the vaccination programme was extended to all 16 and 17-year-olds - resulting in 1.4 million teenagers being offered a jab.
The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has resisted intense pressure from ministers by refusing to recommend coronavirus vaccines for 12 to 15-year-olds.
Education Secretary Gavin Williamson said parents would find it "deeply reassuring" if children were given jabs, and leaks from Whitehall insiders suggested the JCVI was ready to sign off on vaccines for teenagers as schools return in England.
Yet although the vaccination programme has been expanded to cover more children with underlying health conditions, the JCVI has not approved vaccination for the entire age cohort.
This comes despite encouraging data on safety from the United States, where children have been receiving the vaccine for some time, as they have in France, Germany, Israel and the Netherlands.
Professor Wei Shen Lim, chair of COVID-19 immunisation for the JCVI, said: "The JCVI's view is that overall, the health benefits from COVID-19 vaccination to healthy children aged 12 to 15 years are marginally greater than the potential harms.
"Taking a precautionary approach, this margin of benefit is considered too small to support universal COVID-19 vaccination for this age group at this time. The committee will continue to review safety data as they emerge."
Northern Ireland Health Minister Robin Swann said he agrees the issue of a wider rollout "warrants further consideration".
Wales's Health Minister Eluned Morgan said she had asked the country's chief medical officer to "provide guidance at the earliest opportunity on the clinical and wider health benefits of vaccinating this age group".
Scotland's Health Minister Humza Yousaf said he had asked for the review to be conducted "as soon as possible".
Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said he is disappointed by the JCVI decision not to recommend jabs for all 12 to 15-year-olds.
He added that while they respect it, it could mean it is "more difficult during the autumn term and beyond to guard against educational disruption caused by transmission of the virus".
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