As Britain tries to transition to life learning to live with Covid – and dealing with its after effects – a potentially lethal virus seven times more infectious than omicron is stalking our children. 

There is a commonly available vaccine against it.

But some 10 million parents in the UK are not getting their youngsters fully jabbed against it. Why? 

MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) jabs were first given in the UK more than 30 years ago. 

John Naish examines whether Britain is suffering from vaccine fatigue.

Covid ‘Freedom Convoy’

There were reminders from around the world today that Covid still has a grip on many countries. 

Police in Ottawa have announced new measures including seizing fuel to deal with an unprecedented 10-day occupation by protesting truckers that has shut down much of the core of the Canadian capital, as the mayor declared a state of emergency. 

Jim Watson said that the ongoing protest over Covid measures had got “out of control”, saying it was “the most serious emergency our city has ever faced”. 

See how the protesters have parked their big rigs on city streets and put up tents and temporary shacks – paralysing the capital. 

Meanwhile, an Oxford professor has said scientists and politicians across the globe who expressed critical views of the AstraZeneca Covid vaccine “probably killed hundreds of thousands of people”. Read why here.

Australia reopens

Yet alongside the turmoil, there is also huge relief on the Covid-front today, after Australia announced it will reopen its borders to vaccinated travellers this month, ending two years of misery for the tourism sector.

The move effectively calls time on the last main component of Australia’s response to the pandemic, which it has attributed to relatively low death and infection rates.

The other core strategy, stop-start lockdowns, was shelved for good in December. 

Here is the latest holiday guidance as the country reopens but Nick Trend warns it creates new dilemmas for travellers. 

Here is where you could still be locked up in quarantine hell.

Comment and analysis

Around the world: UK to deploy more troops to Poland

The UK will send 350 more troops to the Polish border with Ukraine, as tensions increase and the threat of Russian invasion deepens. Ben Wallace, the Defence Secretary, said that the UK and Poland are discussing what the two countries could do to deter Russia from making the “foolish mistake” of invading Ukraine, and warned that Ukraine will fight if it is invaded. The move comes as Emmanuel Macron, the French president, met with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin in Moscow for what he called “reasonably optimistic” talks on the crisis. James Crisp analyses why Mr Macron’s diplomacy with Mr Putin is a high-wire act but could pay dividends in the French elections – and read here how the Russian president has kept Crimea in his grip after its annexation.

Monday interview

‘For a moment I thought I was cool – then the crowd dropped me’