Coronavirus live news: UK continues controversy over punches for children; Australia records the highest daily cases | world News

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9.43am BST09:43

Data from the National Health Commission showed, on Saturday, that China administered a total of 7.5 million vaccines for the Covid-19 virus on Friday, bringing the cumulative total to 2.092 billion doses.

A medical worker prepares to give a dose of the coronavirus vaccine to a man in Beijing. Photo: Carlos Garcia Rollins/Reuters

9.15am BST09:15

The former chief scientific adviser to the UK government said it was up to ministers to consider the broader harms of not vaccinating children, after the Government Vaccines Committee decided the benefits of Covid vaccines were too marginal.

Professor Sir Mark Walport discussed tasking chief medical officers with giving more advice on vaccinating children aged 12 to 15, he told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme.

It is inconvenient but not necessarily a particularly rare condition.

JCVI looks through a very special lens, which is the clinical safety of a vaccine for a particular population against the effects of the disease itself.

But what they don’t look at are the broader issues like education and the harm to that, so the broader harm that might be going to children and the spillover effects on their families — that’s where policymakers come in.

Woolport suggested that the potential side effects of coronavirus vaccines for children could be outweighed by the benefits.

The health of my two children and grandchildren is also affected by their social environment, their ability to go to school, and what happens in the family, so there are broader factors as well.

All the evidence suggests that the rate of myocarditis, myocarditis and pericarditis is at least the same and may be much higher in the same population if they contracted the coronavirus.

Updated at 9.34am GMT

9.06 AM BST09: 06

Australia reported its highest daily number of new coronavirus cases so far, with 1,756 infections on Saturday, as the country’s officials urged people to get vaccinated.

Reuters reported that most of the cases were in New South Wales, where there were 1,533 new cases and four more deaths. The state has had an outbreak of a highly contagious delta species since mid-June.

Victoria has reported 190 cases, the Australian Capital Territory 32 and Queensland one. The latest daily infections are double the levels of the worst previous wave of the epidemic in Australia a year ago.

The general trend is a slow and steady increase. This is why vaccination is so critical, as is following the rules,” Brett Sutton, Victoria’s chief health officer, said at a press conference.

Victoria, New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, which together comprise nearly 60% of Australia’s population of 25 million, have been under strict confinement for weeks.

9.06 AM BST09: 06

A member of the Government’s Scientific Advisory Group on Emergencies suggested that the government take a broader perspective than the JCVIC’s risk-benefit calculation in administering vaccines to 12-15 year olds.

Professor John Edmonds told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme:

I think we have to take into account the broader impact that Covid may have on children, their education and their developmental achievements.

In the UK it’s now difficult to say how many children have not been infected, but it’s probably about half of them, about six million children, so that’s a long way to go if we allow infection to pass through the population, a lot of children that will be infected and that will be a lot of turmoil for schools in the coming months.

Sajid Javid, the health minister, said on Friday he had written to the UK’s four chief medical officers to ask for more advice on giving vaccines to those over the age of 12.

Updated at 9.12 AM GMT

9.06 AM BST09: 06

Good morning, this is Damien Gayle who is controlling the Coronavirus live blog today from London, bringing you the latest headlines and Covid related updates from the UK and around the world.

In the UK this morning we expect to see the first downfall of the abrupt decision by the Government’s Vaccines Advisory Committee not to recommend Covid vaccinations for children aged 12-15.

In their decision Friday not to recommend vaccines, members of the Joint Vaccines and Immunization Committee defied what appeared to be significant pressure from ministers. In a statement, they said the benefits of vaccines, compared to the risks, are very marginal.

But they left the door open for the government to rescind it by saying it was not in their business to consider the “wider societal impact” of vaccination, particularly in education, and suggested that the government take more advice from top medical officials.

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