New UK health secretary Sajid Javid told lawmakers "we are reducing the dose interval [for COVID-19 vaccines] for under-40s from 12 weeks to eight," as reported in This is Money.

According to Javid, the move "will mean that every adult should have had the chance to be double jabbed by mid-September."

Meanwhile, England's chief medical officer Chris Whitty said the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation (JCVI) is "rightly taking time" to consider all the data before making a final decision on whether or not to advise that children should receive the coronavirus vaccine.

Due to the fact children are generally less badly affected by COVID-19, Whitty said there would need to be "even greater confidence about the safety because the risk benefit is potentially therefore going to be more marginal."