CUMBRIA'S Director of Public Health has encouraged all 16 and 17-year-olds to get the coronavirus vaccine.

Colin Cox said that young people should get the vaccine because "It helps protect them and it helps protect others round about them."

The UK Government says it has met its aim of offering all 16 and 17-year-olds the jab.

Mr Cox said: "We know that 16 and 17-year-olds have not classically suffered from a lot of harm directly from covid.

"They’re unlikely to end up in hospital. But we also know that they can end up suffering from long covid and really struggle to live their daily lives for quite some time after getting covid."

He added: "It’s also important for them to get it to help reduce the potential for transmission throughout the rest of the community.

"And particularly to older and more vulnerable people, who may themselves still be quite vulnerable to Covid-19."

He hopes that young people will get vaccinated as soon as possible, but says that Cumbria County Council is considering other measures if vaccine take up is low.

He said: "We’re encouraging people to get vaccinated before they go back to school of course but certainly as we start to roll the programme out, mobile vaccination sites being associated with schools and colleges is something that we’re looking at."

On Saturday hundreds of protestors took to the streets of Carlisle to demonstrate against the vaccine and giving it to people under 18.

Mr Cox was not surprised: "There will always be a small part of the population who are quite opposed to these things.

"That’s up to them, they can protest as much as they want. We don’t force people to have the vaccine here, if they don’t want to have it that’s entirely up to them."

He offered some reassurance for those who are worried: "The government has taken its time, it has reviewed national and international data and has concluded that for 16 and 17-year-olds, this vaccine is safe."

The number of coronavirus cases in Carlisle increased by 109 over the weekend, official figures show.

A total of 11,633 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Carlisle on when the UK coronavirus daily dashboard was updated on Monday.

At the weekend, the number of coronavirus cases in Allerdale increased by 150 and the number in Copeland increased by 92.

A total of 8,231 people had been confirmed as testing positive for Covid-19 in Allerdale and 5,812 tested positive in Copeland .