THE UK faces a "moral and ethical balance" on prioritising the country's children or the wider world when it comes to vaccination, Professor Calum Semple, a member of the Scientific Advisory Group for Emergencies (Sage), has said.

Prof Semple told BBC Breakfast: "If we haven't got enough vaccine in the world and you want to do most to save lives, then sending the vaccine to Africa or to India, to places that need it, would actually have greater impact.

"There's a really interesting moral and ethical balance here between doing most for most people on a global benefit and doing most for society, the wellbeing, in our country. That's why there are some really difficult decisions for our policymakers to make.

"Here, we would be vaccinating children mainly to protect the public, which we do for other infections as well.

"We do it for influenza. The main reason for vaccinating children against influenza is actually to protect granny and grandpa."

Asked if it was time for the UK to start jabbing teenagers, he added: "I'm not sure it is. Although a large proportion of the infections currently are in children, the overall number of infections is vastly reduced on what it was during wave one and wave two."