UK Covid: jabbing 12- to 15-year-olds will reduce impact of school disruption on children’s mental health – Whitty

Chris Whitty says disruption extraordinarily difficult for children' and informed decision to recommend vaccinating 12- to 15-year olds

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• Summary of Sturgeon's SNP conference speech
• Summary of Downing Street lobby briefing

6.26pm BST

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6.10pm BST

At his press conference Prof Chris Whitty, the government's chief medical officer, did not refer directly to hospital admissions. (See 6.03pm.) But he did stress that Covid problems were not going away. He said:

Anybody who believes that the big risk of Covid is now in all in the past, and it's too late [for the new vaccine policy] to be making a difference, has not understood where we're going to head as we go into autumn and winter, where there will continue to be challenges, there will continue to be pressure on the NHS and there will continue to be disruption to education from Covid.