Covid news live: “No major break” in vaccine immunity

Staff who refuse to be vaccinated against Covid should not be able to take frontline positions in nursing homes, a government health minister has said.

Care Minister Helen Whately has suggested that nursing home staff who do not receive double shots could be transferred to back office roles.

She told Sky News: “The big question has to be though, if you don’t want to get vaccinated, how can you keep going, how can it be fair to keep going, dealing with people who are really vulnerable to Covid?”

The government is considering making Covid jabs mandatory for the NHS and frontline caregivers – but some unions and healthcare organizations have warned this could lead to staff shortages.

The government will consider expanding the use of vaccine passports if there is a “public health need” to do so, Culture Secretary Oliver Dowden said.

He told Sky News the government “wanted as few restrictions as possible for as short a period as possible.”

But, he added, if the Covid epidemic worsens, ministers will consider requiring certification of vaccines to attend more sites in order to “protect” the public.

The Oxford / AstraZeneca Vaccine Program lead scientist said giving people a third Covid vaccine is unnecessary in most cases because immunity from two doses is “well lasting”.

Professor Dame Sarah Gilbert said that “the first dose has the most impact” on immunity, and current levels of vaccination in Britain are sufficient even against the more contagious Delta variant.

Dame Sarah told the Telegraph: “We will look at every situation; the immunocompromised and the elderly will receive boosters. But I don’t think we need to boost everyone.

Scottish doctors are ‘exhausted’ by the Covid pandemic and many are reducing their working hours or leaving healthcare altogether.

BMA Scotland chairman Dr Lewis Morrison told BBC Scotland medics were ‘physically and mentally exasperated’ after 18 months of the pandemic because the NHS ‘is operating at 110% capacity’.

He said measures were needed over the coming months to prevent doctors from leaving the profession and to boost the recruitment of new doctors.

The BMA says the pandemic and “outright burnout” worsened a “workforce crisis” that existed before the pandemic.

A heavily pregnant Afghan refugee and her husband fear they will be “trapped” in a quarantine hotel for weeks despite the end of the mandatory 10-day isolation period.

Tamana Wafa, 28, her husband Mansour Wafa, an interpreter who worked for the British Army, and their two-year-old daughter have now been staying at the Radisson Blu hotel at Manchester Airport for 13 days.

They hope to be released before Tamana gives birth, but the family has no news from the government on when and where they will be placed – the I the newspaper reported.

Other refugees at the hotel told them they had been there for up to a month.

Tamana is around 34 weeks pregnant, but could give birth in the next two weeks as she had complications with their first child and needed a Caesarean.

Mr. Wafa said I: “We don’t want to have the baby while we live in the hotel. We want to go out and go wherever we are supposed to live.

Last week Mr Wafa told the newspaper it was “like a dream” to be evacuated from Afghanistan to Britain after escaping desperate crowds outside Kabul airport three just hours before an Isis-K suicide bombing killed at least 170 people.

UK economic growth slowed in July, although many businesses were allowed to fully open for the first time in months.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) said gross domestic product (GDP) rose 0.1% in July, a slowdown from growth of 1% in June.

Companies had faced severe staff shortages amid the so-called ‘pingemia’ caused by workers being asked to self-isolate by an NHS application.

Health Secretary Sajid Javid said he was “confident” that a third vaccine would be offered to millions of people before the colder months, but awaited the approval of the Joint Committee on the vaccination and vaccination (JCVI).

A source close to JCVI said The independent that it is “likely” that a recommendation will be made next week.

But other figures have suggested that the advisory group could deliver its opinion to the government by the end of the day (September 10).

A charity that represents concert halls has criticized the Scottish government’s plans for vaccine passports as “unclear” and “likely to cause confusion”.

The Music Venue Trust (MVT) has called on the Scottish government to engage swiftly and actively with the sector to build public confidence in politics.

The Scottish government’s plans for vaccine passports were backed by MSPs on Thursday as the Greens provided the necessary votes, with the motion passing 68 to 55.

From October 1, the program will make available a QR code or paper alternative that will be scanned before entry is allowed.

This will apply to nightclubs or similar venues with more than 500 people, outdoor events without a seat with more than 4,000 people or any event with more than 10,000 people.

The scheme is not yet finalized, details of a number of issues – including the definition of a nightclub – have yet to be confirmed.

In a statement, the MVT said: “The Scottish Government’s new policy announcement on requiring dual vaccination for entry to certain premises is unclear, lacking in detail and potentially confusing the public and site operators. “

The government’s current traffic light system for international travel during the pandemic could be scrapped.

It was reported that the green and orange categories could be removed and replaced with a new system.

A new system would allow vaccinated travelers to visit countries with vaccination levels as high as the UK without needing a quarantine on their return, sources told the BBC.

The “red list” – countries considered most at risk and involving a 10-day stay in a government-approved hotel at a cost of thousands of pounds – should remain in place.

The third government review of international travel is expected on October 1.

Our travel correspondent Simon calder reports