Dr Syed Ahmed: "Vaccination works"

Dr Syed Ahmed, public health consultant at Greater Glasgow Health Board, said the vaccine had been used successfully for decades.

"We are saying to parents that it has been used to vaccinate doctors and nurses in the National Health Service for the last 20 years and it works," he said.

But Dr Ahmed insisted that vaccinations would only be administered if parental consent has been given.

Professor David Goldberg, deputy director of the SCIEH, said the pilot scheme had been planned for the last two years.

He said: "It is recommended by the World Health Organisation that this vaccination is given universally to everyone.

One million deaths

"In most parts of western Europe the vaccination is already given to children but this would be the first pilot of its kind in the UK."

There were 386 cases of Hepatitis B infection in Scotland last year compared to just 152 in 1995.

Official figures estimate the virus now claims one million lives globally each year.

Hepatitis B can cause severe abdominal pain, jaundice, nausea and can lead to acute liver failure

Carriers of the virus can even develop cancer and cirrhosis later in life.