Here are the morning headlines for Sunday, January 30 as frontline NHS staff in England look for work in Wales to avoid mandatory jab rule.
From April, all health and social care workers, including nurses, in England will be required to have two doses of a Covid-19 vaccine to go to work if their role involves “direct contact with patients”, unless they have an exemption.
Staff who refuse the vaccine or who decline to disclose their vaccination status will be offered redeployment to non-patient-facing roles and those who cannot be redeployed face losing their jobs, as was reported earlier this month.
The new rule means that for frontline staff to be full vaccinated by April 1 they must have had their first vaccine on February 3 and they face losing their jobs early next month.
Wales' First Minister Mark Drakeford said he would "not rule out" recruiting staff who left their jobs because of the mandatory vaccination policy in England, which is not in place here, and staff are already talking about moving acros the border.
In an interview for BBC Radio 4 last week, he was asked if he would take on NHS staff from England.
The First Minister said: "We wouldn't rule it out but it would depend on what anybody said in an interview when they were applying for a job. We're not going to make vaccinations mandatory in our NHS.
"We haven't in our social care services because we have succeeded by persuasion by getting the vast majority of people who work in our services to do the right thing and take up the protections that vaccination offers."
He added: "I don't expect us to go looking for people who have not been vaccinated but, if people apply, then they would be interviewed in the normal way. We'd look to see what lay behind their decision. We wouldn't rule them out but we certainly won't be going out there looking for them."
Chloe, a 25-year-old dental therapist in Plymouth told BBC Newsbeat, says she doesn't want the vaccine and is looking into working in Wales.
"It'll probably be a case of finding a shared house or living with a friend in Cardiff," she says.
"Probably only being able to work two or three days a week then commuting.
"That will obviously put a strain on my relationship [with my partner] because we'll be living separately, and it's just a real hassle."
Chloe doesn't think she should have to choose between her work and the vaccine.
"I think it's disgusting they're doing this," she says. "They're taking away our human rights. "I don't think it's very fair that just across the border in Wales, the laws are going to be completely different."
Health expert questions mask policy in schools
A health expert has said that face mask rules in schools should not be left to councils and head teachers to decide.
Currently Wales' secondary school pupils are advised to wear face coverings in classes and corridors but after half-term next month these decisions will be made locally.
Education Minister Jeremy Miles has said that guidance on face coverings was likely to remain in place until schools come back on 28 February, after half-term.
Mask-wearing rules for pupils in English schools were scrapped earlier this month but the Welsh government said schools and councils were supported by public health officials in keeping guidance around masks in place.
Prof Watkins of Cardiff University told the BBC that the policy on face coverings should be a "central decision" based on scientific evidence.
He warned the situation could arise where two schools in the same town "could have different policies developed by headmasters with a particular view".
He said it should not be left to "the idiosyncrasies" of schools and local authorities "who may not be in the same position to appraise the evidence either from an epidemiological point of view - how much disease is around in a particular area - or a scientific basis on the merits or otherwise of face masks".
He instead called for a universal policy from the Welsh government.
Prof Watkins said disruption to education over the past two years had been "pretty profound", adding: "The risks are really quite low but harms from the interventions we do are actually potentially great."
England start to roll out coronavirus vaccines for vulnerable children
As per the latest advice set out by the JCVI, children aged between 5 and 11 in a clinical risk group, or who live with someone who is immunosuppressed, will now be able to get a coronavirus vaccine.
The roll out in England is set to begin this week.
It is believed that there are around 500,000 children eligible for the jab within this cohort in England, including those with diabetes, immunosuppression, learning disabilities, and other conditions outlined by the UK Health Security Agency.
There are currently no plans to expand the vaccine fully to this age group.
In Wales, the Welsh NHS has said that all five to 11-year-olds in this category would be offered an appointment by the end of the month.
"I would like parents and guardians to be reassured that no new vaccine for children would have been approved unless the expected standards of safety, quality and effectiveness had been met," UK vaccines minister Maggie Throup said.
"I encourage as many as possible to make sure they get their child the jab when contacted."
Children will be offered two 10 microgram doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccines which is a third of an adult dose. These will be offered eight weeks apart.
Latest ONS data shows COVID cases increasing among children aged from two to school year six – and increased from school years seven to 11.
Dozens more positive covid cases detected among Beijing 2022 Winter Games personnel
Thirty-four new confirmed infections were detected among Olympics-related staff or athletes, the Winter Games organising committee said on Sunday, including Poland's short track medal hopeful Natalia Maliszewska.
Of those, 13 were athletes or team officials who tested positive after arriving at the airport on Saturday, reports Reuters.
With the opening ceremony set for February 4 and the first preliminary games starting earlier on February 2, athletes will be anxious to avoid the virus.
Athletes who test positive and show no symptoms are to be discharged from isolation only if they provide two consecutive negative tests 24 hours apart.
The Great British Team comprising of 50 athletes will compete across nine different sports.
In order to minimise the coronavirus destruction, the Olympics have formed a "closed loop" bubble that separates event personnel from the public in an effort to curb the spread of infections.
The loop allows Games participants to move freely between their accommodations and Olympic venues on official transport, but they are not allowed to move freely in the city. All Games stakeholders, including media and staff, are also tested daily.
Beijing Games organisers have warned of more cases in coming days as the Chinese capital enforces stringent measures, restricting movement and contact of any Games participant with the local population.
Unlike many countries seeking to live with COVID-19, China has isolated itself with a zero-tolerance policy, cancelling nearly all international flights. Olympic athletes and others must fly directly into the city on charter flights.
Maliszewska is the eighth Polish athlete to have tested positive and has gone into isolation, the Polish Olympic Committee said on Sunday. She joins infected fellow speedskaters Natalia Czerwonka, Magdalena Czyszczon and Marek Kania in isolation.
Australia announced a positive COVID-19 test on Sunday among its team members but did not say whether it was an athlete or coaching staff.
Team chief Geoff Lipshut said the positive test was concerning but was so far only one case and the infected person had no close contact with other team members, which would have forced others into quarantine.
No personnel from team GB have yet to be forced to isolate due to coronavirus.
Tax rise will go ahead this year, says Prime Minister
A planned £12bn rise in National Insurance from April will go ahead, Boris Johnson and Rishi Sunak have said.
The PM is under pressure from some Conservative MPs to scrap or at least delay the national insurance increase to win back support as he awaits the findings of Whitehall and police inquiries into claims of lockdown-busting parties held in Downing Street.
But Mr Johnson, together with Chancellor Rishi Sunak, has now made a firm commitment to go ahead with the 1.25 percentage point increase, designed to tackle the Covid-induced NHS backlog and reform social care.
Writing in the Sunday Times, the pair insisted that it is right to follow through on the "progressive" policy.
"We must clear the Covid backlogs, with our plan for health and social care - and now is the time to stick to that plan. We must go ahead with the health and care levy. It is the right plan," they said.
"It is progressive, in the sense that the burden falls most on those who can most afford it.
"Every single penny of that £39 billion will go on these crucial objectives - including nine million more checks, scans and operations, and 50,000 more nurses, as well as boosting social care."
Mr Johnson and Mr Sunak said they are both "tax-cutting Conservatives", but there is "no magic money tree".
"We believe passionately that people are the best judges of how to spend their own money," they said.
"We want to get through this Covid-driven phase, and get on with our agenda, of taking advantage of our new post-Brexit freedoms to turn the UK into the enterprise centre of Europe and the world.
"We want lighter, better, simpler regulation, especially in those new technologies in which the UK excels. We are also Thatcherites, in the sense that we believe in sound money. There is no magic money tree."
In April, national insurance is due to rise by 1.25 percentage points for workers and employers.
From 2023, it is due to drop back to its current rate, with a 1.25% health and social care levy then applied to raise funds for improvements to care services.
Political opposition to the change has come from all sides of the Commons, as MPs fear the impact that cost of living pressures could have on stretched household budgets.
Inflation is at a 30-year high after the coronavirus pandemic and the energy price cap is due to lift in the spring, possibly increasing bills by 50%.
Inflation - the rate at which prices are rising - is already at a 30-year high, reaching 5.4% this month.
New anti-Covid pill to be rolled out on the Welsh NHS
An antiviral pill to prevent at-risk groups from becoming seriously ill with Covid-19 will be rolled out on the Welsh NHS from next month.
The Welsh Government has confirmed that the antiviral PF-07321332+ritonavir will be made available to people with weakened immune systems from February 10.
Clinical studies have suggested the drug, which is made by Pfizer and also known as Paxlovid, can cut the risk of hospital admission or death by 88% if given in the first five days of symptoms.
It is especially important for people with weakened immune systems who may not get maximum protection from vaccines. People considered to be at highest risk include those who are immunocompromised, cancer patients, and those with Down's syndrome.
Another antiviral, molnupiravir, and the monoclonal antibody sotrovimab are already being given to high-risk patients with nearly 10,000 people treated across the UK to date.
Paxlovid will be made available to at-risk patients on the NHS on the same date across the UK. According to the Department of Health and Social Care (DHSC) the UK has procured more antivirals per head than any other country in Europe with more than 4.98m courses ordered so far.
England's health and social care Secretary Sajid Javid said: "Our pharmaceutical defences are crucial as we learn to live with Covid-19 and the UK is leading the way, especially when it comes to the use of cutting-edge antivirals.
"This is an important milestone – especially as Paxlovid has been shown in clinical trials to reduce the risk of hospitalisation or death for vulnerable patients by 88% meaning potentially thousands of lives could be saved."
Pope denounces fake news about COVID vaccines
Pope Francis said on Friday that spreading fake news and disinformation on COVID-19 and vaccines, including by Catholic media, is a violation of human rights.
It was the second time in less than month that the 85-year-old pope has spoken out on the subject. Three weeks ago, he condemned "baseless" ideological misinformation about vaccines, backing national immunisation campaigns and calling health care a moral obligation.
Francis made his comments in an address to members of catholicfactchecking.com, a consortium of Catholic media whose website says its aim is to "clarify fake news and misleading information" about vaccines against COVID.
"To be properly informed, to be helped to understand situations based on scientific data and not fake news, is a human right," the pope told the group. "Correct information must be ensured above all to those who are less equipped, to the weakest and to those who are most vulnerable."
Francis decried a spreading "infodemic," which he said was a distortion of reality based on fear, falsified or invented news and "allegedly scientific information".
Believers of fake news should not be placed in "ghettos" but attempts should be made to try to win them over to the scientific truth.
"Fake news has to be refuted, but individual persons must always be respected, for they believe it often without full awareness or responsibility," Francis said.
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