The NHS flu vaccination programme is to be extended to all children in the UK, the government has announced.

The decision would make the UK the first country in the world to offer the vaccine to all children, free of charge, the Department of Health (DH) said. Only children considered to be in at-risk groups are currently eligible for the vaccine on the NHS, but under the new scheme it will be available to every child between the ages of two and 17.

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	The DH said it would now consider "key aspects" of the new programme, including how to source enough vaccine. "The most significant challenge will be sourcing enough new vaccine as there is only one manufacturer and they will not have the capacity to deliver enough new vaccine until 2014 at the very earliest," a DH statement read.

The move follows recommendations from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) – a body of experts tasked by health secretary Andrew Lansley with looking at the scope of the flu vaccination. The experts concluded that the health benefits of comprehensive immunisation in children would outweigh the challenges involved in extending the vaccination programme.

Chief medical officer Dame Sally Davies said the government had accepted the advice of the committee but that there would be "significant challenges to delivering a programme that requires up to nine million children to be vaccinated during a six-week period". "We will look at the recommendations in detail to decide how best to develop and deliver the programme," she added.

AstraZeneca UK welcomed the announcement and confirmed that its Fluenz nasal spray vaccine would be used for the programme. "This is based on the evidence of effectiveness, protection against drifted strains and safety, and in the absence of any equivalently effective alternative authorised vaccine," an AstraZenica spokesperson said.