Portrait of the week: Boosters, Emma Raducanu and the Taliban’s new rules

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The government decided to offer booster vaccinations to those over 50. Children aged 12 to 15 would be offered one dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccination. This followed a declaration by the Joint Committee on Vaccination and Immunisation that it could not recommend vaccination for these children for their own health benefit alone; the chief medical officers of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland then recommended it, taking into account the effect on disrupted schooling. Sajid Javid, the Health Secretary, said that plans for vaccine passports in England would not go ahead. But Boris Johnson, the Prime Minister, held up a Plan B in terrorem for the winter if people insisted on falling ill with Covid. Vaccine passports, along with compulsory face coverings and advice to work from home, might still be imposed if there was pressure on the NHS. Scotland went ahead with a vaccine certification scheme. Children in Scottish schools would have to wear masks.

In the seven days up to the beginning of the week, 983 people had died with coronavirus, bringing the total of deaths (within 28 days of testing positive) to 134,144. (In the previous week deaths had numbered 785.) In a week, numbers remaining in hospital rose from 7,648 to 8,256. Only 256 people who were doubly vaccinated died this year, out of 50,000 Covid deaths. Valneva, a French company with a factory in Scotland, said that the British government had cancelled an order for 100 million doses of its vaccine. Charlotte Johnson Wahl, the painter and mother of Boris Johnson, died aged 79.

Emma Raducanu, aged 18, beat the Canadian Leylah Fernandez to win the US Open in a thrilling match. The Queen immediately sent a message of congratulation: ‘It is a remarkable achievement at such a young age, and is testament to your hard work and dedication.’