British children could get vaccines as soon as August

Previously, children were not set to receive the coronavirus vaccine

Children could start receiving the coronavirus vaccine as early as August under provisional plans set out by the government, The Telegraph has reported. The new proposals mean that the government are planning to increase the vaccination rollout to the younger generations. According to the latest government data, 28,327,873 people have now received their first dose of the Covid vaccine, whilst 2,363,684 people have now had their second jab. This comes as the Prime Minister Boris Johnson spoke of reclaiming the nation's "freedom" through science in a press conference on Tuesday. https://twitter.com/DHSCgovuk/status/1374392713781542919 Addressing the nation, he said: "Cautiously but irreversibly, step by step, jab by jab, this country is on the path to reclaiming our freedom.” The Chief Medical Officer Chris Whitty also spoke of the importance of the rollout of the vaccine in the press conference. He said: "The vaccine programme continues to be very important for making sure that, as new surges happen, which they are likely to at some point, they will meet a wall of vaccinated people which will help to significantly reduce the ratio of people who catch the disease to the number of people who die from it." If the current vaccination rate - which is approximately 3 million first doses per week - stays the same in August, the majority of school children could receive the first coronavirus vaccination before going back to school. According to the report, the government are hopeful this could happen ahead of the Autumn term. This comes as Chris Whitty warns that there "will definitely be another surge at some point whether it's before winter or next winter, we don't know".