Jabs for ALL British 16 and 17 year olds ‘within days’

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Vaccine regulators are set to give the green light to jabs for 16 and 17-year-olds in the coming days, Nicola Sturgeon said last night.

The Scottish First Minister claimed updated advice from Britain’s Covid experts was expected imminently, in the hope that more children can be offered shots before schools and universities restart in September.  

The UK’s Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) has said some children with underlying health conditions should get jabs, but so far has not recommended a broader rollout of shots to under-18s.

The devolved Scottish government has control over its health policy, but the JCVI gives advice for the United Kingdom’s four nations on the rollout of vaccines. 

Speaking to MSPs on Tuesday, Ms Sturgeon had suggested the decision could come as soon as Wednesday.

She said: ‘We are waiting on JCVI advice. When I say ‘we’, I am obviously referring to the Scottish Government, but the UK, Welsh and Northern Irish governments are in the same position.’

Ms Sturgeon said the four chief medical officers across the UK had written to the JCVI asking them to look again at vaccination advice for young people.

‘I am hoping, possibly veering towards expecting, updated advice from the JCVI literally in the next day or so,’ she said. 

It comes as:

• Boris Johnson ‘is poised to DITCH the ‘amber plus’ rule for the country which forces even double-jabbed Brits into quarantine’;
• Scottish government offers to PAY people £50,000 to set up homes, families and businesses on its most remote and beautiful islands;
• UK’s daily Covid cases fall to another five-week low of 21,691 in just a 7% drop on last week – as hospital admissions dip by 15%;
• Study finds Covid survivors who were hooked up to a ventilator in hospital lost up to seven IQ points;
• Nicola Sturgeon is accused of ‘clinging on to large parts of people’s lives’ by KEEPING lockdown laws on masks and mass events ‘indefinitely’;
• British tourists queue for two hours to get through passport control after three hours of Covid admin to board flight at Malaga 

Ms Sturgeon added: ‘I very much hope that that expectation will prove to be the case. I am hoping, but this is the JCVI’s advice, that they will recommend further vaccination of people in the 12 to 18-year-old age group.

‘But I’m particularly hopeful that we will see some updated recommendations in relation, as a priority as the first part of this, for 16 and 17-year-olds.’ 

The JCVI has so far ruled out the mass vaccination of healthy children, but under existing guidance young people aged 16 to 17 with underlying health conditions which put them at higher risk of serious Covid infection should have already been offered a jab.

Children aged 12 to 15 with certain conditions which make them vulnerable to coronavirus can also access the vaccine, as can those aged 12 to 17 who live with an immunosuppressed person, such as a parent or grandparent.

England’s chief medical officer Professor Chris Whitty previously said there was a balance to be struck between vaccinating young people who do not tend to suffer severely from the virus, and ensuring their lives were not disrupted.

Ms Sturgeon added that she was working on the assumption that there would be a booster programme in the autumn, following interim advice from the JCVI to prepare for one.

Shadow health secretary Jonathan Ashworth said: ‘With the JCVI apparently about to give the green light to vaccinating 16 year olds, ministers need to ensure plans are in place to roll out this vital next stage of vaccination while ensuring parents have all the facts and information they need.’ 

A spokesperson for the department of health and social care (DHSC) said it continues to keep jabs for children under review and will be guided by the JCVI’s advice.  

It comes after Ms Sturgeon was today accused of ‘clinging on to large parts of people’s lives’ as she revealed lockdown will officially end next week – but some laws will remain in place indefinitely.

The First Minister confirmed Scotland would exit Level 0, ending social distancing and limits in the size of social gatherings, on August 9.

But she said it was too early to declare freedom from Covid as she confirmed face coverings will still be required by law indoors and large events with capacities of more than 2,000 inside and 5,000 outside will have to gain special permission to take place.

Schoolchildren will also have to wear mask in lessons and socially distance in schools for six weeks from September.

But in a move that will heap pressure on Boris Johnson amid the English ‘pingdemic’, self-isolation requirements will be dropped if someone passes a PCR test from Monday, a week before the quarantine requirement ends in England.

Announcing that face coverings would remain mandatory the First Minister said it was ‘premature’ to suggest the pandemic had been beaten.

She also raised the spectre of some restrictions returning in winter, saying she could not rule it out.

But Scots Tory leader Douglas Ross accused her of ‘moving the goalposts’ by keeping masks and other measures in place.

‘There are some welcome steps in the right direction but these ongoing restrictions will hold Scotland back,’ he said.

‘We are beyond Level 0, at Level -1 or -2 and still the Government is clinging on to large parts of people’s lives.’

Meanwhile, Boris Johnson has snubbed an invitation from Ms Sturgeon to meet during his visit to Scotland this week.

The First Minister had invited Mr Johnson to meet at her official Edinburgh residence, Bute House, to discuss the UK’s recovery from the coronavirus pandemic.

However, the Prime Minister has replied to Ms Sturgeon in a letter – posted on Twitter by a Sky News journalist – instead aiming to focus on wider discussions at a later point.

In his letter, the Prime Minister said: ‘As I noted when we last met, I am keen to arrange an in-person meeting with you and the other first ministers and deputy first minister to build on the constructive discussions we had earlier this summer.

‘We agreed then that we should establish a structured forum for ongoing engagement between the Government and the devolved administrations to deliver tangible outcomes in the interest of people throughout the UK.

‘There is much for us to discuss as all parts of the UK work together on our shared priority of recovering from the pandemic.

‘I understand our officials have made good progress on the details of this since we last spoke.’

Mr Johnson added: ‘I am particularly keen that we work closely together on the vaccination booster campaign this autumn which will be crucial as we continue to tackle the pandemic.

‘The UK Government has procured millions of vaccines for the entire United Kingdom and we look forward to working with the Scottish Government as we roll out booster jabs in line with JCVI’s advice.

‘The UK Government is working closely with the devolved Scottish Government on a variety of different issues.

‘I know that you have been meeting regularly with the Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, Michael Gove, but I look forward to meeting with you soon and working together in the interests of people in all parts of our country.’

Ms Sturgeon acknowledged in her own letter on Monday she and Mr Johnson ‘differ politically’, but stressed the Scottish and UK governments must ‘work together where we can’.

It comes after she confirmed most of Scotland’s remaining coronavirus restrictions are to be scrapped from Monday – which she hailed as ‘perhaps the most significant date so far’ in the pandemic.

From August 9, Scotland will move ‘beyond Level 0’ with the removal of most restrictions such as physical distancing and the size of social gatherings.

The Scottish Government has been contacted for comment.

 

 

 

Elsewhere on Tuesday, it emerged that ministers are preparing to streamline the travel traffic light rules in a move which would pave the way for summer holidays to France to resume following a ferocious backlash from Tory MPs and aviation bosses.

Travel chiefs believe the current system is far too complex and confusing and some experts have claimed the Government is now poised to axe some of the more complicated categories to get back to the original red, amber and green approach. 

Experts have claimed the existing ‘green watchlist’ – a category which refers to countries rated as green but in danger of being moved to amber – will be scrapped. 

But crucially they have also predicted the ‘amber plus’ list – a category which currently only includes France and requires all travellers, including the fully-vaccinated, to quarantine on their return to England – will be dropped.

 

Moving France back to the normal amber list would provide a massive boost to the travel industry because double-jabbed Brits could return from there without having to spend 10 days in isolation.  

Travel expert Paul Charles, director of The PC Agency travel consultancy, said he had been told by ‘high level sources’ that ‘amber plus’ and the ‘green watchlist’ will be ditched and that ‘simplicity is to return’.

Education Minister Gillian Keegan had earlier appeared to hint that changes will be made as she said the Government wants the rules to be ‘simple enough for people to really understand’ and to take decisions ‘based on the system so we have the red list countries, the amber list countries and the green list countries’.    

Boris Johnson yesterday abandoned controversial Government plans to introduce a new category to the system: the ‘amber watchlist’. It would have been used to identify countries which are amber but at imminent risk of turning red.    

The Prime Minister intervened to torpedo the proposals after they provoked a wave of fury from Cabinet ministers, Tory MPs and the travel industry, with critics blasting the idea of adding a further level of complexity to the already chaotic system amid warnings it would prompt a collapse in bookings. 

Travel firms welcomed the U-turn but immediately pressed the PM to go further as they called for the current system to be scrapped completely and replaced with a single ‘red list’ of banned countries. 

The problems caused by the traffic light rules were illustrated today by warnings that European hotels are rejecting holiday bookings from UK travellers for August because they fear they will just cancel. 

Noel Josephides, director of Aito, the Specialist Travel Association, and chairman of tour operator Sunvil, told The Guardian: ‘Hoteliers are turning away bookings from the UK in August because they don’t trust us – and European travellers are taking our beds and availability.’  

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps is expected to update the travel rules on Thursday and it is thought he could add 10 countries to the green list, including Austria, the Czech Republic and Germany.   

Mr Shapps is being blamed by some of his Cabinet colleagues for the latest travel rules debacle. Five Cabinet sources told Politico that they believed Mr Shapps and the Department for Transport were responsible for the chaos.    

The Government is also under fire after it emerged the boss of the Joint Biosecurity Centre, which advises ministers on the travel rules has quit, with no successor in place. 

The Guardian reported last night that Clare Gardiner had left her role as director general and it is currently unclear who is actually in charge of the body, with critics claiming it is ‘rudderless’ at a crucial time.  

The Department of Health and Social Care said Ms Gardiner had ‘returned as planned to a role in national security’ and the JBC ‘continues to operate routinely under robust interim arrangements’ with a replacement to be ‘announced imminently’.