More under-18s could be cleared for Covid vaccines within days, says Nicola Sturgeon

Clearance for more under-18s to be inoculated against coronavirus is expected from the government’s official vaccination advisers “within the next few days”, Scottish first minister Nicola Sturgeon has said.

There has been increasing pressure from medical experts for teenagers to be given the chance to receive jabs, after the MHRA medicines regulator ruled in June that they are safe for use on over-12s.

But the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation last month announced that it was advising inoculation only for 12-17 year-olds with certain medical conditions, as well as those within three months of their 18th birthday.