Children in Oxford could be among the first in the UK to receive a new vaccine for swine flu.

Oxford is one of five English cities believed to have been selected to lead a trial for children aged between six months and 12 years.

A bid for funding for the trial is now with the NHS National Institute for Health Research, which is expected to give its approval over the next few days.

If the proposal is given the go-ahead, the voluntary trials could begin as early as next month.

As well as Oxford, trials are expected to take place in Bristol, Southampton, Exeter and London, involving about 900 children in total.

Organisers say the trial would be entirely voluntary, with families interested in taking part given detailed briefings about any potential risks before hand.

Bristol University professor of paediatrics Adam Finn, who has helped to organise the proposed vaccine trials, said the two vaccines being piloted were “unlikely” to have any serious effects on children.

He said the trial would help the Department of Health make decisions on vaccination programmes, as there is no information on how effective the vaccines would be on children.

It usually takes many months to carry out and prepare for any vaccine trial. But with swine flue already being classified as a pandemic, it is clear that researchers are anxious to get the trials under way in the early autumn, when more people are expected to get swine flu as well as seasonal flu.

In Oxford it is understood the trials will be overseen by Prof Andrew Pollard, who leads the Oxford Vaccine Group, based at the Churchill Hospital.

Three years ago he oversaw trials of a potential vaccine for bird flu, recruiting 150 volunteers from Oxfordshire to receive a dose of the vaccine and then have their blood analysed to see how their immune systems responded.

The news comes in the week that Oxford University researchers called on the Department of Health to urgently rethink its policy on giving anti-viral treatment to children with swine flu.

Their study, published in the British Medical Journal, warned that Tamiflu could cause vomiting in children, which could lead to dehydration and the need for hospital treatment.

The researchers said children should not be given the drug if they have a mild form of swine flu, although they urged parents and GPs to remain vigilant for signs of complications.

Dr Carl Heneghan, a GP and clinical lecturer at Oxford University, said the current policy of giving Tamiflu for mild illness was an “inappropriate strategy”.

He added: “The downside of the harms outweigh the one-day reduction in symptomatic benefits.”

He and Dr Matthew Thompson, a GP and senior clinical scientist at Oxford University, analysed four studies involving children aged one to 12.

The children were being treated for normal seasonal flu but Dr Thompson said the findings would extend to the current swine flu pandemic.

“I dont think we have got any reason to think our results would be any different,” he said.

“The current swine flu is generally a mild flu illness. It does not seem that different from current seasonal flu.

“We would be happy to say our results apply to the current swine flu strain.”

He said children with mild symptoms should be treated in the same way as if they had any other mild flu — with drinks to cool high temperatures and rest.

Dr Heneghan said the only benefit found in the study was that children were back to normal half a day to one day earlier if taking Tamiflu or Relenza.

He said his advice to GPs was “not to rely on Tamiflu as a treatment to reduce complications” or to think of it as a “magic bullet”. And he warned that widespread use of Tamiflu could result in the flu becoming resistant to the drug.

Both researchers called on the Department of Health to review its current policy.

A Department of Health spokesman dismissed the researchers’ claims that their findings would also apply to swine flu.

Sir Liam Donaldson, the Government's chief medical officer, said: “This is a good research team and their report is welcome.

“However, the study is limited in its scope, tentative in its conclusions and not directly comparable to the current situation.”