Category: Blog article

Since March, schools have offered twice weekly rapid tests to all pupils, with those testing positive having to self-isolate, along with close contacts, for 10 days. They replaced PCR tests, which were sent away to a lab for results, when students had symptoms.

However, supporters argue widening vaccination to children is important now that the highly infectious Delta variant is widespread in Europe and cases are rising sharply in some areas. Children also have to be included if the goal of herd immunity is to be reached – that is, when a high level of vaccination slows the virus’s spread in the population.

Hundreds of thousands of under-18s will now be offered the Covid vaccine in the UK.

They’ll get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, as that’s the only one which has been approved for 12 to 17-year-olds – so far.

However, the news means that most children still aren’t eligible for the jab – in keeping with guidance from the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI).

BBC health reporter Laura Foster explains what the guidance is and why it might change in the future.

The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) on Beauty, Aesthetics and Wellbeing, says that while demand for non-surgical procedures has “exploded” in recent years, the UK government has failed to keep up – with aesthetic training courses almost entirely unregulated.