US doctor urges vaccine priority for children

As Covid cases among children in the US rise dramatically, a doctor is calling for them to be prioritised for the vaccine over many adults who are due a third jab.

Dr Paul Offit, of the Children's Hospital of Philadelphia and a member of the US Food and Drug Administration's vaccine advisory board, said all children should be vaccinated as long as a safe vaccine was available.

He told BBC World News: "If we want to get on top of this pandemic I don't think the way to do that is to give a third dose to people who are already vaccinated. The only way to do that is to vaccinate the unvaccinated. And we have in our country now a solid 65 million people who aren't vaccinated, and serve as fertile ground for this virus to spread."

Some 226,000 children were diagnosed with Covid last week in the US, making up 26% of cases in the country.