16 & 17 year olds are Government's new Target for Covid Vaccine

Today, UK experts are set to recommend all 16 and 17-year-olds should be offered a Covid vaccine.

Jabs could be administered in schools but Education Secretary Gavin Williamson is expected to push for GP surgeries and NHS hubs to be used.

The Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation stopped short of making the move last month, saying it was still assessing the benefits and risks.

About 1.5 million teenagers will be included in the new rollout.

Meanwhile, new research suggested children who became ill with coronavirus mostly recovered within less than a week.

Across England, 223,755 under-18s have received a first vaccine dose, according to NHS data to 25 July.

It was previously announced that under-18s would be eligible if they had certain health conditions, lived with someone with a low immune system, or were approaching their 18th birthday.

But there was criticism after it emerged GPs were advised to hold off inviting clinically vulnerable 12 to 15-year-olds to take a vaccine due to uncertainty over insurance.

The only Covid jab currently authorised in the UK for under-18s is the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

Last month, the JCVI extended its recommendation on Covid jabs to children aged over 12 who are at higher risk of getting ill and to those on the verge of turning 18.

However, it said it would not extend the rollout as it examined reports of rare adverse events such as inflammation of heart muscles among young adults.