Covid-19: Jabs for 16 and 17-year-olds and Offspring drummer dropped
- Published
Here are five things you need to know about the coronavirus pandemic this Wednesday evening. We'll have another update for you tomorrow morning.
1. Jabs for 16 and 17-year-olds
The UK's vaccine experts have recommended that all 16 and 17-year-olds in the UK - about 1.4 million teenagers - should be offered a first dose of the Covid jab. England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland have all confirmed they will accept the recommendation. Advice on when to offer the second dose will come later, the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation said. Prof Jonathan Van-Tam, England's deputy chief medical officer, said he expected the programme to start in "a very short number of weeks".
2. Offspring drummer dropped
The drummer of US rock band The Offspring says he has been dropped from their forthcoming tour after refusing the Covid vaccine for medical reasons. Pete Parada says a doctor advised him not to have the jab because he has a rare autoimmune disorder. He wrote on Instagram that he's "unable to comply with what is increasingly becoming an industry mandate". It is not clear whether he has now left permanently. The band, who are due to start a US tour on 8 August, have not responded to his comments.
3. Confusion over Scotland's drinking rules
The Scottish government has been urged to clarify whether "vertical drinking" will be allowed in pubs from next Monday - when most Covid rules are set to end in Scotland. Drinking while standing at a bar has not been permitted since lockdown easing in a bid to limit the spread of Covid. Deputy First Minister John Swinney told BBC Radio's Good Morning Scotland that would remain the case but a senior figure in the Scottish Beer & Pub Association later tweeted it had been given the green light. Here's a reminder on how the rules are set to change on Monday.
4. Obama scales back bash
Former US President Barack Obama has scaled back plans for a big birthday party amid a rise in Covid infections nationwide. Mr Obama turned 60 on Wednesday and had planned a major celebration on Martha's Vineyard in Massachusetts this weekend. But as the highly contagious Delta variant has led to a surge in new infections in the US, Mr Obama has announced plans to scale back the event, with only close friends and family now attending.
5. Nurse captures ICU life
Photographs by a nurse who captured her team's life in an intensive care unit during the pandemic are to feature in an exhibition. Petro Bekker, from Wigan, took portraits of her colleagues at Wrightington, Wigan and Leigh Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic. She talks about taking the photographs in the video below.
And there's more...
With the JCVI advising that 16 and 17-year-olds should be offered a first dose of the Covid jab, what do young people need to know about the vaccine?
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