this is bbc news with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. pfizer's vaccine has been approved by regulators for use in the uk and could be rolled out across the country next week. we'll start with the most elderly, and with people in care homes, and of course their carers, to make sure that others don't catch it. the uk expects to have millions of doses of the pfizer vaccine against covid—19 available by the end of the year, and the first 800,000 coming next week. england's tier system has made a comeback but with toughened measures. more than 55 million people are living in the strictest two tiers. "0ur planet is broken". that's the warning coming from the secretary general of the united nations. in a special bbc broadcast,

antonio guterres will talk about tackling global warming, which is now a central objective of the un. we are going straight to an event at downing street for more details on vaccine developments we have heard this morning. can i introduce the collea g u es this morning. can i introduce the colleagues with me this morning. 0n my left is the professor of medicine at liverpool university and chair of the chm's, the government's advisory body. 0n the chm's, the government's advisory body. on my right, a professor of respiratory university at the university of nottinghamshire. chair ofa group

university of nottinghamshire. chair of a group that has been preparing advice on covid—i9 vaccines. this briefing has been called to announce that the medicines and health care products regulatory agency recommended to the uk government on the basis of the advice on the commission of human medicine is that it should have agreed to the approvalfor use of it should have agreed to the approval for use of the covid—i9 vaccine developed by pfizer biontech, together with the conditions for its supply and use. the mhra's recommendation has been reached following an extremely thorough and scientifically rigorous review of all the evidence, of safety, of effectiveness and of the quality of the pfizer biontech vaccine. the uk government has now accepted this advice and has made the decision to approve the vaccine for use with some conditions. in

adults age 16 and over. the safety of the public will always come first. i emphasise again that this recommendation has only been given by the mhra following the most rigorous scientific assessment of every piece of data so that it meets the required strict standards of safety, of effectiveness and of quality. we have two or three slides this morning to help our discussion get moving. in the first one, you can see that unlike the usual pattern of clinical trials, which are done one after the other, the development of this vaccine has been adapted so that the trials are overlapping and the next one can start before a particular phase has finished. and in this way we have

been able to progress development in the shortest time possible. on the next side you can see how the mhra has worked, and i would like to tell you a little more about this just now. it has been done using a process known as a rolling review, a rolling review can be used to complete the assessment of a promising medicine oi’ assessment of a promising medicine or vaccine in a situation where time is of the essence. in the shortest time possible. but, and this is a very important point indeed, that doesn't mean that any corners have been cut, none at all. so, looking from the top downwards, the expert working group started in the middle of the year to look at how safety surveillance would be in place to give us the highest possible level of assurance of the safety of the covid—i9 vaccine. that preparation

and planning has been done with meticulous care. similarly, our national institute for biological standards and control had been working independently on testing batch by batch the quality of the vaccine. then in october the preclinical analysis data became available, the third bar down, followed by the interim analysis on the 10th of november. the quality analysis came very shortly after that, and most recently the batch testing has begun with the final analysis at the very end of the process. so it's very clear that separate teams have been working in parallel to deliver the most rigorous review of this vaccine. no corners have been cut. 0ur rigorous review of this vaccine. no corners have been cut. our expert scientists and clinicians have worked around the clock, carefully

and methodically poring over tables and methodically poring over tables and analyses and graphs on every single piece of data. hundreds, over 1000 pages of data, and absolutely critically analysing the preclinical evidence, the clinical trials, the manufacturing and quality controls, and then down to the final sampling. we have also reviewed and agreed to the prescribing information so public and health care professionals are very clear and can be very confident that the vaccine is being used in the correct way, understanding what's involved. and going forward from today, our national institute for biological standards and control will be independently laboratory testing so every single vaccine that goes out meets the same high standards of safety a nd meets the same high standards of safety and quality. and we have benefited from a further safety steps too, following our thorough

review of the data at the mhra we have sought the advice of the government's independent body, the commission on human medicines. i would now like to turn to the professor to explain the pivotal pa rt professor to explain the pivotal part its independent members have played in critically assessing every piece of evidence. thank you very much. i chaired the chm's thank you very much. i chaired the chm's expert working group. first of all i would like to thank the members of that expert working group who worked with me tirelessly, with over 40 hours of face to face on zoom at least, committee work and extra reading time. we made accommodations to the commission of new medicines which undertook an independent review, and the commission on human medicines is chaired by stuart wollaston. we had a wide variety of experts in both groups, in colluding experts in

viral diseases, epidemiologists, clinical pharmacologists and various experts in medicines. we looked at all sorts of data available to us, including the raw data, unprecedented access to raw data, and this allowed us to look at the overall risk benefit analysis. we look at risk benefit analysis for every compound that comes through in terms of licensing and reuse the same stringent standards to look at the risk benefit of this particular vaccine. we looked at laboratory data, we looked at the manufacturing processes and quality data, as well as the clinical trial data. from this we came to the conclusion that there was overwhelming benefit for this particular vaccine and therefore recommended to the mhra that its use should be authorised. i

just want to say a few things about the effectiveness of this vaccine. the data show the vaccine is 95% effective. it is effective in all groups that were given the vaccine within the trial, irrespective of e, within the trial, irrespective of age, sex, race or country they lived in. we have also looked at the safety of this, the safety of the vaccine is similar to other vaccines, and most of the side effects are very mild and usually la st effects are very mild and usually last for a day or so. we have been very careful to look at the quality of the vaccine, particularly given the need for storing the vaccine at u lt ra low the need for storing the vaccine at ultralow temperatures, and we had visits from nhs colleagues to tell us visits from nhs colleagues to tell us what the deployment strategies we re us what the deployment strategies were and we were able to advise them as well on the stability issues that

may be important for deployment. it is important to note that what we have got is data relating to the vaccine up to this point. it is important we undertake surveillance following the use of vaccines in the population and we were very keen to recommend that the mhra undertakes active surveillance of the vaccine after it is used. and this includes the use of yellow cards, as well as a special active monitoring programme which we will be inviting people tojoin. the committee also considered that no specific precautions were required on administration of this vaccine in people who have already had covid—19 and no testing is required before receiving the vaccine. now i will turn to our other professor to tell us turn to our other professor to tell us about the work of the joint

committee on vaccination and immunisation. thank you. the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation is an independent scientific advisory body. we advise the secretary of state on the provision of vaccination and immunisation services. as a committee we have been meeting regularly over the last few months. we have done that to appraise new and emerging scientific evidence related to our role. 0n and emerging scientific evidence related to our role. on this slide you will see the types of information we have been assessing. these include data on vaccine safety and efficacy, but also how covid—19 has impacted the uk. this includes the impacts of covid—19 in care homes, on people from different ethnic groups, as well as people in different occupations. the data come from primary care, from public health england, and from hospitals. we have also looked at mathematical

models that have helped us to understand how different vaccine strategies might be used. the uk is fortunate in that we have one of the best immunisation programmes in the world. every year, through the infant, childhood and adult vaccination programmes, millions of us are vaccination programmes, millions of us are protected from serious disease. all of that expert information also informs the jcbi's expert decision—making. through the first phase of the pandemic and the vaccination programme, we are suggesting that vaccines are offered in orderto suggesting that vaccines are offered in order to protect people who are most at risk of dying from covid—19, as well as to protect health and social care services, because by doing so we also protect lives. the advice has been divided into two main parts. the first to offer vaccination according to the estimated risk of dying from

covid—19. the risk of dying from covid—19. the risk of dying from covid—19 is very strongly associated with age. age is by far the single most important factor in terms of risk from covid—19. the second strand to the advice is regarding implementation of the vaccination programme. we advise that due attention is paid locally to mitigating health inequalities. i will say more about that in a moment. 0n the next slide we will see the prioritisation order in terms of the offer of vaccination. residents in care homes for older adults and care home workers are the highest priorities. following that are those aged 80 or above, alongside front line health care and social care workers. then come those 75 years of age and above, followed by those 70 years of age and above,

alongside people who are clinically extremely vulnerable because of specific health conditions. they are followed by people who are aged 65 years and above, and then individuals who are aged 16—64 with underlying health conditions that also put them at risk from covid—19 but where those conditions are not already represented in those conditions putting someone at extreme risk. the prioritisation order then continues down the age groups until all those aged 50 and above are included. this is the phase one of the programme. in phase one we hope that 90 — 99% of people at risk of dying from covid—19 will be included or covered. the next pa rt of be included or covered. the next part of the advice relates to implementation of the programme. we

advise that local nhs providers, local public health teams and local leaders work together to address community needs and local needs. we suggest that community teams work together to mitigate against health inequalities that might occur in relation to ethnicity, deprivation or access to health care. we also recognise there may be operational reasons why the prioritisation needs to be more flexible and this may relate to vaccine characteristics or vaccine supply, or exceptional personal circumstances. 0verall vaccine supply, or exceptional personal circumstances. overall we have good news today. we have a vaccine that is acceptably safe and effective and good vaccine uptake. save lives. thank you. we can now turn to questions from

the media. 0urfirst question comes from fergus walsh of the bbc. thank you very much. can you reassure the public that they can have absolute confidence in this vaccine given how quickly you have approved it, and can you sum up for me the reasoning behind your list of priorities about who gets the vaccine first? a really important point relates to the thorough work, scientifically rigorous and methodologically sound work the agency has done. the way of working ona agency has done. the way of working on a rolling review ensures our teams of clinicians and scientists are working in parallel to complete

all the work according to strict guidelines on safety, effectiveness and quality is complete. this vaccine has only been approved because those strict tests have been done and complied with. and everyone can be absolutely confident that no corners whatsoever have been cut. perhaps if i could think of an analogy, if you are climbing a mountain, you prepare and prepare. we started out injune. by the time the interim results became available on november ten, we were at base camp. when we got the final analysis we we re camp. when we got the final analysis we were ready for the last sprint that takes us to today and that is the exemplary nature of the work that has been done, and the public deserve nothing less. i will hand over to the professor now. in

relation to the offer of vaccination, prioritisation was based on the risk of dying from covid—19 and in order to protect the most vulnerable we have prioritise the most vulnerable individuals first. the other element is protection of the nhs, the health and social care system, because by protecting the nhs we also protect lives. we now turn to victoria mcdonald from channel 4. good morning. thank you. can you explain for me why the mhra has been able to authorise this vaccine so much faster than the european medic —— european medicines agency and the food and drugs administration? and secondly, how long is the lag, or is

there a lag, between being given a vaccine and for it to become effective? i will take the first question. the way in which the mhra has worked is equivalent to all international standards. we are well aware of our national situation and therefore we have mounted teams, built capability and worked in parallel. i want to thank colleagues who have worked day and night, weekends, to enable us to come to this position. the public can be absolutely confident that the standards we have worked to our equivalent to those around the world. the vaccine requires two doses 21 days apart. from the data that has been presented to us, people will be immune seven days after the second dose. partial immunity occurs after the first dose

and we can see some protection occurring after day 12 after the first dose but full immunity is seven days after the second dose. there will of course be longer term follow—up to provide further reassurance from the robust data we already have. our next question comes from emily morgan of itv. good morning. hello. my first question is to you, doctorjune raine. this is an historic moment and you have approved the vaccine in record time. i wondered how much of a momentous moment this is for you and indeed for science. and a question for professor lim on the priority list, can you confirm care home residents will indeed be the first to receive the vaccine, given how unstable it is and tricky to move to care homes and care home residents, or will nhs

staff be the first to receive it?|j will take the first question. the reason we are here today is the brilliance of science and also the altruism of all those people who have enlisted in clinical trials to give us the tremendously robust data we have today. thirdly it is due to the agility, commitment and extremely high scientific standards of all the staff at the mhra who have worked on this, and the privilege of having an expert advisory outreach, our commission on human residents do expect medicines. it isa human residents do expect medicines. it is a combination of all of these things that the uk is able to bring together and always look to the public for whom this is for. professor lim. thank you. the jcvi advice is aimed at maximising benefit from vaccines. and therefore

it is aimed at the most vulnerable people, which are people in care homes. whether or not the vaccine itself can be delivered to care homes is obviously an important point and there will be some flexibility in terms of operational constraints. the jcvi advice is that every effort should be made to supply vaccines and offer vaccinations to care home residents whether or not that is actually doable is dependent on deployment and implementation.” doable is dependent on deployment and implementation. i wonder if sir munir would like to add, because clearly the responsibility of mhra relates to the standards of science, but we also look at it in the context of the real world, which is what professor lim has described. we looked at the stability of the vaccine. as you said, it is stored

at -70 vaccine. as you said, it is stored at —70 degrees but we were able to look at stability data, and that data is showing it is stable for a short period of time, at 2—8, data is showing it is stable for a short period of time, at 2—8 , which allows it to be transported to the releva nt allows it to be transported to the relevant vaccination sites. we can now turn to next from gordon rayner of the daily telegraph. thank you. cani of the daily telegraph. thank you. can i ask, have you identified when, do you know when the first vaccine will be delivered, which day we can expect that? have you identified the first person who will get it, and if not, how will you decide who that person will be. will the highest risk levels might be given priority, so the tier 3 areas with highest incidence, and can i ask whether you also know if economic decisions have been factored in, that is to say,

when you get down the list of priorities, will people who can't work from home get the vaccine before people who can work from home? these are helpful points that eve ryo ne home? these are helpful points that everyone wants to know, and i know my colleagues in the department of health and social care are working tirelessly to make sure that the first vaccine will be delivered as soon as first vaccine will be delivered as soon as all the checks are completed. i can speak for the national institute for biological standards and control who are ready to co m plete standards and control who are ready to complete their checks on the first batch. everything is being looked at when for seven to enable this important public health step to be put in place as soon as possible, not a minute wasted. —— looked at 24/7. if professor lim can talk more about your perspective. as far as i understand, the nhs is working hard to deliver the vaccines as soon as possible, but that is not within the

remit of the jcvi to impose any time limits on vaccine delivery. bear in mind too that many thousands have already had a vaccine as part of clinical trials, so there is a continuum here, and our knowledge of benefits increases over time. so perhaps it will seem to be a historic moment when the first person after the approval of supply has their vaccine, but, person after the approval of supply has theirvaccine, but, sir munir, we see this very much as an ongoing process. absolutely. it is very much an ongoing process with regard this vaccine and future vaccines coming through in order to make sure releva nt through in order to make sure relevant people in the jcvi list are given the vaccine in the priority order that was shown. this is a good point for me to stress that we will be inviting members of the public to join us in an active monitoring programme and many will get a

letter, it will be by random allocation, inviting them to join this. so please help us to continue to build that body of knowledge about this important vaccine. can i just ask on the point about whether highest risk tiers will be the ones to get it first. professor lim? that is the intention of the prioritisation order, that the most vulnerable people are offered vaccination first. in tier 3? do you mean regional tiers?|j vaccination first. in tier 3? do you mean regionaltiers? i do. our prioritisation order is not dependent on which tier somebody is in. it is a national prioritisation order. thank you, that is very

clear. turning to the next question, andy woodcock from the independent. andy woodcock from the independent. a couple of things. we appear to be getting authorisation for this vaccine ahead of our friends in europe. i was wondering, does the fa ct europe. i was wondering, does the fact that the uk is no longer part of the eu, did that make any difference to the speed at which you we re difference to the speed at which you were able to complete your authorisation? secondly, as i understand it, the vaccine that you have authorised, we have not ordered sufficient quantities to cover the whole population. i was wondering, do we have enough of this vaccine to get through all the priority groups listed earlier on, or would we dependent on waiting for further vaccines to be authorised in order to get to the position where the whole country can be safe from this disease? we have been able to authorise the supply of this vaccine using provisions under european law which exist until the 1st of january. 0ur speed and progress has

been totally dependent on the availability of data in our rolling review and the rigorous assessment and advice we have received. so i hope that clarifies the point about the european relationship. we can turn to professor lim around availability, is there anything you would like to add on this? very good question vaccine supply and availability. the whole reason why a priority listing is required is because we expect during a pandemic that vaccine supply will be limited in the first instance and so vaccines should be offered in the first instance to the most vulnerable and then moving down the priority list. we will need as many vaccines as we can get, not just priority list. we will need as many vaccines as we can get, notjust in the uk but locally. this includes more than one vaccine type in order to reach all the people who are at risk from covid—19. this is the

start of a programme and not the end of the programme. and we are absolutely in liaison with collea g u es absolutely in liaison with colleagues in the department of health and social care in terms of all the evidence we have two enable them to do theirjob to make sure availability is assured. we can turn to the next question which comes from the scottish sun. what would your simple message the to those who are suspicious of the vaccine, given what we have seen on anti—vaccination feeling on social media. and can you summarise which vaccines, and what are the expected timescales for approval on those vaccines? the public can be absolutely confident that every

rigorous cheque has been done to reach thejudgment rigorous cheque has been done to reach the judgment that we reached, that the benefits far outweigh any risk, that the safety of the vaccine has been scrutinised independently by our commission on human medicines and no stone has been left unturned, so absolute confidence on the safety, effectiveness and quality of the pfizer biontech vaccine. in terms of further products, vaccines for covid—19 that are coming through, there are two, you will be aware, for which we have further rolling review is ongoing, and those will be conducted to the absolute scientific standards that the public would expect. sir munir, do you have anything to add? no thank you. do you have any indication on the timescales therefore the other vaccine approvals? it wouldn't be

possible to predict today, simply that this rigorous process has started in the way i have described, with every package or parcel of data as it is available being scrutinised and my guess is, sir munir, your expert group will be working probably over christmas to make sure we co m plete probably over christmas to make sure we complete our work in the shortest possible time. thank you. let's turn to tom colson from business insider. the health secretary has said rolling out the vaccine will be challenging because it needs to be stored at certain temperatures. do you foresee potential challenges in offering the pfizer vaccine to vulnerable groups who might not be able to travel to a vaccination centre, or whose gp surgery might not have the cold storage facilities necessary to store the vaccine? yes,

indeed. i think every vaccine that comes through will probably have its own characteristics in terms of storage, transport and deliverability. so the pfizer vaccine in particular has a strong requirement for very cold storage. and there are stability issues potentially that constrain how a vaccine can be supplied to different people. let's not forget that a mass vaccination programme, as will be conducted very soon, is an unprecedented thing, it will be the largest vaccination programme in the uk for decades. so there will be all manner of operational flexibility is that will be required during the deployment of the vaccine. that will be required during the deployment of the vaccinem that will be required during the deployment of the vaccine. it has certainly been very close scrutiny conducted by the expert working group in terms of the question you have asked, tom. munir, would you like to highlight the aspects you

have been poring over? sure. as part of the assessment of the vaccine, we look at the quality, which includes the stability. it does need to be stored at low temperature, —70 degrees, at least. but we know that onceit degrees, at least. but we know that once it is taken out, it can be stable, between 2—8 c, to allow for deployment in the vaccination site. and that information is being shared with the relevant agencies, the nhs, public health bodies. so they can actually sort out deployment models and make sure the stability of the vaccine is maintained. it is critically important, thank you for raising this key issue. 0ur critically important, thank you for raising this key issue. our next question comes from jasmine ralston, from the health servicejournal, good morning. good morning, thank you. the vaccine has been approved by the mhra with conditions, what are they? how should trusts decide

which front line staff have priority for the vaccination, and how do you reassure nhs staff concerned the vaccine might not be safe? finally, will nhs staff be allowed to update out of having the vaccination without penalty? thank you, the first question relates to the conditions, which has you can imagine, are very strict and rigorous. mainly around the quality areas we can “— rigorous. mainly around the quality areas we can —— we have been exploring which need to be to the very highest standards. the second area will be around the vigilance, the monitoring of all the safety aspects, particularly as vanessa macro 3 has said because so many people will want to have this vaccine. —— professor plim. and we will have close control over the information provided to health care professions and to the public so that in having that very clear and very precise information, everyone can be confident the vaccine is going to reach them in the best

possible way. so those are the three main areas. but the extent of the controls of the mhra are very broad, in line with international guidance around good laboratory practice, good clinical practice and good manufacturing practice. we will be watching very carefully that all those requirements and conditions are complied with. public can be confident of that. perhaps i can turn to professor lim for some of the aspects you have raised, and particularly as nhs staff will need to have that confidence, too. thank you. the jcbi has advised that there are certain front line health care and social care workers who should be offered higher priority. and these are based around their own personal risk of having harm or severe illness from covid—19. secondly, the amount of exposure

they have two people who have covid—19 infection themselves. and thirdly, the amount of interaction they have with different people who are vulnerable and might acquire covid—19. so we have set out some principles on how to prioritise different health care workers and use those when deployment of the vaccine is indicated. in terms of whether it should be voluntary or compulsory, at the moment, there is no suggestion that the vaccination should be compulsory, it is also an offer of vaccination and whether somebody wants to have a vaccine or not, whether they are in the nhs or not, whether they are in the nhs or not is at the moment a voluntary thing. but the jcbi not is at the moment a voluntary thing. but thejcbi is not is at the moment a voluntary thing. but the jcbi is not a policy— making body, policy thing. but the jcbi is not a policy—making body, policy is made by ministers. the clear and helpful information that will be provided will enable the conversations to go

on on an individual level so that anyone who has any questions can have them clearly and thoroughly answered. munir, please do. maybe i can add something about safety. the trial has had about 40,000 individuals and half of those received the vaccine and half received the vaccine and half received the vaccine and half received the placebo. from the data that has been provided, most of the adverse effects were mild and short lasting, usually lasting for a day or two, lasting, usually lasting for a day ortwo, similarto lasting, usually lasting for a day or two, similar to the kind of effects you get after any other vaccine. so that is really important, we have not identified any serious adverse reactions throughout the trial programme. but it is important to continually monitor the safety of this and the mhra hasa monitor the safety of this and the mhra has a very proactive vigilance strategy to be able to monitor the

safety a nd strategy to be able to monitor the safety and permit monks that is a yellow card system which anybody can report on, including members of the public —— and prominent amongst that. but also the active recall system the mhra is going to launch, which will ask members to be able to join and look at what is happening with the vaccine and whether they are developing any side effects. with the vaccine and whether they are developing any side effectsm is all well prepared and we are ready to roll into action now. i think that completes all our questions, thank you to all the journalists who have joined this morning. i will ask my colleagues if you have any final remarks. professor lim? yes, i would like to thank everybody who has been involved in helping the jcbi come to its advice. i would like to stress we are so its advice. i would like to stress we are so far advised how the vaccine might be used in the first phase of the programme. we haven't yet decided how the vaccine may be used in subsequent phases of the programme and we will be monitoring

all the new emerging data, including data coming out from phase one of the programme, in orderto data coming out from phase one of the programme, in order to make our further decisions. thank you, that is really helpful. munir, any concluding remarks? thank you. i think that we are in the midst of a once ina think that we are in the midst of a once in a century pandemic and i think this is a historic moment, the uk is now one step closer to providing a safe and effective vaccine to help in the fight against covid—19. a virus that has affected each and every one of us in some way. and this will help to save lives. thank you. i would simply like to conclude by reiterating that this vaccine, produced and developed by pfizer/biontech, meets rigorous high standards of safety, effectiveness and of quality. the public‘s safety has always been at the forefront of our minds. safety is our watchword. it will always

continue to be so. thank you, we can now conclude this briefing. that was drjune raine, chief executive of the medicines regulator, the body which has given approval for this pfizer/biontech vaccine, pretty much ending that science briefing as she started it come up with a focus on the safety, saying public safety has absolutely always been a top priority. she said that no corners had been cut. a lot of information in that briefing. 0ur health correspondent naomi grimley is here. 0n on that point about safety, three experts very much pains to point out all the checks have been done, or the processes that they needed to go through to bring this vaccine to market have been gone through. that's right, i think that is why it was such a sober press conference because they are trying to stress that they did not cut corners. in fa ct, that they did not cut corners. in fact, they went to great pains to

stress that they had been doing a lot of this regulatory approval in overlapping stages and that explains why it was done so quickly, head of any other international regulator. now we heard that this vaccine will give immunity from coronavirus, seven days after the second dose, there are 21 days between the two doses, partial immunity after the first dose and full immunity seven days after the second dose. and we saw, which i think is worth looking at, a list of the priority for people getting that vaccine in its first phase. that's right, this is really important because at number one of the priority list is care home residents and care home workers. yet we have been hearing in the last few days about some of the problems of getting the pfizer vaccine out to them because it has to be held at these very low temperatures, freezing temperatures of —70 degrees 70 data. they still suggest they are the priority. —— 70

degrees —— —70 celsius centigrade. 0nce degrees —— —70 celsius centigrade. once it has been taken out of the freezer, it can be put in a fridge, hand—held at the temperatures of 2-8 c, that hand—held at the temperatures of 2—8 c, that can only happen for about five days, but that does give about five days, but that does give a window of opportunity to give it to ca re a window of opportunity to give it to care homes. the big caveat if you like was they did mentioned there would be operational constraints and thatis would be operational constraints and that is why the most likely people we will see first of all are in hospitals. very interesting detail. also, we were hearing the public will be invited randomly, i guess in the way that some surveys of coronavirus have been carried out by selecting people randomly from the nhs register, to take part in an active monitoring programme of the vaccine. this is the follow—up to see how people are coping with it. that's right, and that is absolutely key because this is a novel pandemic so we need to keep monitoring those

people who have the vaccine. 0f course, a big part of what they were trying to do today was stressing that people need to buy into this, they need to be able to trust it. promising us they will keep looking at those who have had it, checking for any after at those who have had it, checking for a ny after effects at those who have had it, checking for any after effects is key. also, a very important to think that they wa nted a very important to think that they wanted to stress i think today was that they want to prioritise your risk of dying when they are looking at how to roll it out. so i think perhaps most interesting of all was they talked about paying you attention to health inequalities. these are things like your access to health care, whether you are in a deprived community, and so they have strict gascony they want to stick to and they were folded in other aspects of society to make sure those most at risk get it first. do we think based on that, some people who don't strictly fall into that category, an obvious one would be

children under 16 for example who have very serious health conditions, might they get the vaccine early? children is a bit more problematic because the structure was looking at those over the age of 16. but when it comes to ethnic minorities, we know they are at higher risk of disease. morbidity. severe illness. it is clear they will factor that in. i have also been leading the documents they produced alongside this. they are going to pay attention, once they have done the over 50 group, they will pay attention to occupations. this is things like, remember in london, we had terrible deaths amongst london bus drivers, it is things like that. also teachers, because teachers are going into schools, they are exposed to several people every day. so as well as healthcare workers, they are going to be looking at professions, too. very interesting, thank you very much for that.

england has returned to a tiered system of coronavirus restrictions, after the national lockdown ended at midnight. more than 55 million people are living in the strictest two tiers — where mixing with other households indoors is banned. the measures were voted in yesterday, despite the prime minister suffering the biggest rebellion by his own mps since coming into office. from today, more than 23 million people are now in the highest tier, tier 3. there's no socialising indoors or in private gardens. pubs and restaurants can only do takeaways. more than 32 million find themselves in tier 2. again, no mixing indoors, but up to six people can meet outdoors. and you can go to restaurants or pubs that serve substantial meals with people you live with. tier1 has the lightest restrictions, but fewer than three quarters of a million people are in this tier, where up to six people from different households can socialise indoors and outdoors. our first report from our political correspondent, jonathan blake.

with the end of a national lockdown in england comes a new three—tier system of restrictions to get used to. from this morning, 99% of the population is under the higher two levels of controls for at least the next two weeks. here's how the new system of restrictions will work. shops, gyms and hairdressers will be allowed to reopen across the country. in tier 1, the lowest level of restrictions, groups of up to six people will be able to meet indoors or outdoors. pubs and restaurants can reopen, with last orders at ten o'clock and closing at 11pm. in tier 2, groups of up to six people will still be able to meet outdoors, but not indoors, unless in a support bubble. pubs can only reopen if they are operating as a restaurant, and alcohol can only be served with a substantial meal. and in the highest level of restrictions, pubs and restaurants will be forced to provide takeaway only,

and there will be no mixing of households, except up to six people in public outdoor spaces like parks. so, the ayes have it, the ayes have it. last night, mps approved the plans, but not without a struggle. 55 conservatives voted against the government — the biggest backbench rebellion of borisjohnson's time as prime minister. it's passed with a majority of well over 200, it's a very important set of regulations to help the uk bridge into the spring, where we hope a vaccine will move us into a whole different place. and the reason that these regulations mattered is it allows us to move to a tiered approach which, backed up by mass community testing, will help us keep control of the virus and avoid another lockdown. while the new tiers are stricter in some ways, there's plenty you can now do wherever you live in england that might make it feel like a return to something like life as normal. in another major change, people will be able to visit relatives in care homes.

new guidance states that contact will be allowed in all three tiers if those visiting have tested negative for the virus. questions continue about the impact of restrictions, though. the labour leader sir keir starmer has challenged the government to publish more details of the economic impact of control measures as many businesses face uncertain weeks and months ahead. jonathan blake, bbc news. three well—known hong kong activists have been jailed for their involvement in mass pro—democracy protests last year. the trio had been found guilty of unlawful assembly. joshua wong will serve more than 13 months in prison, agnes chow ten, months and ivan lam seven months. the charges were lodged before china imposed its tough national security law in the territory — under which, they could have been jailed for life. since then, the pro—democracy movement has been stifled. a message onjoshua wong's twitter,

posted shortly after the verdict, reads: "the tenacity of hong kongers continues to give us strength in our sufferings. please, take your positions, give support to each other". ‘0ur planet is broken' and ‘humanity is waging a ‘suicidal war‘ on the natural world' — those are words from the secretary general of the united nations, antonio guterres, who is expected to deliver a speech later at a special bbc event on the environment. the speech, entitled the ‘state of the planet', will send a stark warning to world leaders, as mr guterres says he wants to put climate change back at the heart of the un's global mission. let's discuss this now with sophie gill, an oceanographer, who studies the physical, chemical and biological features of the ocean. thank you very much forjoining us, sophie. mr guterres paints a pretty apocalyptic picture, doesn't he? is this the sort of call that is needed? because the big un 26 event that we were expecting to take place at the end of this year in glasgow,

bringing together people from already —— all over the world to talk about how to deal with the climate crisis, that has had to be postponed, so do we need this call from someone like mr guterres right now? yes, definitely. we are facing so many threats from climate change and the warming of our planet including rising sea levels. we have seen including rising sea levels. we have seen climate refugees over the last yea r‘s seen climate refugees over the last year's in low—lying island nations who have lost their homes, we are seeing an increase in extreme weather events like wildfires and flooding. yes, it is incredibly important diskettes global coverage andi important diskettes global coverage and i think one of the main things that will hopefully come out of the impact of this speech and cop26 next year will be hopefully we can work towards a unified global agreement on how to reach a net zero and decrease the concentrations of greenhouse gases in our atmosphere, which will then help us to reduce the levels of warming we are seeing. 0ne the levels of warming we are seeing. one of the most eye—catching things he is talking about is putting the

focus on tax, taking it away from income and putting it on the production of carbon. something like that really going to make a difference, is that what it is going to take? my expertise isn't really in economics, but i can definitely say that decreasing subsidies on fossil fuels will help to incentivise companies to rely less on those fuels which will reduce our reliance on greenhouse gases as a source of fuel. and there are other ways we can remove carbon dioxide from the atmosphere to help us reach international climate targets. the 1.5 degrees or2 international climate targets. the 1.5 degrees or 2 degrees rise in temperature set out by the paris agreement in 2015, we need to both reduce our current and future emissions and also start to actively remove carbon dioxide that we have already put in the atmosphere stop and there are several ways we can do that today. we can use responsible reforestation efforts to start to help more trees, to take more c02

out of the atmosphere, we can help to increase the quite large sinks of c02 naturally in the ocean for example. mangrove habitats are weapons on coasts. there is also the hope of negative emissions technologies, so numerous different strategies have been proposed which aim to increase the amount of c02 storage artificially in the ocean or on land. but the research into many of these negative emissions technologies is actually in its infa ncy technologies is actually in its infancy and one of the pages we have seen infancy and one of the pages we have seen recently is they rely quite heavily on these negative emissions technologies becoming a reality is —— a reality. technologies becoming a reality is -- a reality. i suppose i'm getting at him really provoking a response and challenging people to change their mindset. clearly, that is what it will take a change in approach and a change in the way think about the world and how systems operate. yes, definitely. there is going to need to be a drastic overhaul if we

wa nt to need to be a drastic overhaul if we want to keep within the paris climate agreement and other un goals. yes, absolutely. we need to have pressure on governments to really stick to these pages they are making. at the moment, their pledge is not action. i think one of the aims of the speech from mr guterres is to emphasise that it is really great that these countries have come out and great that these countries have come outand said, great that these countries have come out and said, for example, china said they will reach net zero by 2060 very recently. with the election ofjoe biden, he is pro—global climate and he said the us would rejoin the climate agreement and reach net zero by 2050. it is really important we stick to those pages and take action rather than just saying that we will do it. sophie, thank you very much, sophiejill,

do it. sophie, thank you very much, sophie jill, and oceanographer. the us attorney general says his department has not found any proof to back up president trump's claims of widespread voter fraud in the presidential election. mr trump and his campaign filed lawsuits in states that he lost, as they begin certifying joe biden as the winner. here's our north america correspondent peter bowes. a political friendship that could be wearing thin. we do not allow judgments to be reached. william barr has been a staunch ally of donald trump, which is why his views as the country's top law enforcement officer carry special weight. now he says, working with fbi agents, they've uncovered no evidence that would change the outcome of the election. and he added... as news emerged of the attorney general‘s comments, it appears president trump was engrossed in his twitter account, live—tweeting a hearing in michigan in which his personal lawyer, rudy giuliani, was submitting further unsubstantiated claims about the election.

with the president still apparently obsessing over and denying the election result, joe biden is getting on with building his team for government. good afternoon, everyone. the president—elect says his top priority will be dealing with the coronavirus, and jump—starting the economy. we're going to create jobs, raise incomes, reduce drug prices, advance racial equity across the economy, and restore the backbone of this country — the middle class. 0ur message to everybody struggling right now is this — help is on the way. right now, the us has soaring numbers of new cases. new yorkers returned home from the thanksgiving holiday, only to queue for hours, as they waited to be tested for the virus. everyone's hoping the vaccine will be available soon. it could be in the next two weeks. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. china has successfully landed

a probe on the moon, in an ambitious attempt to bring back the first lunar samples in four decades. the mission's goal is to collect lunar rocks and soil to reveal more about the moon's origins, formation and volcanic activity. you're watching bbc news. looking ahead to our coverage throughout the day — the prime minister will lead a coronavirus briefing from downing street later, it will cover today's vaccine announcement and the three tiers of restrictions in england. we will bring you that live in a special programme from 4:30 here on the bbc news channel and bbc1. now it's time for a look at the weather with carol. hello again. today's weather will be fairly quiet, but turning colder from the north and the west. over the next few days and nights, the cold air moves across the uk. it will be accompanied by rain for some of us and also snow for others. the snow mostly on the hills,

but in some heavier bursts, we could see that even at lower levels. this morning's early brightness eradicated by this band of cloud and rain sinking southwards and eastwards. sunshine and showers behind it, blustery showers driven in in a brisk wind, the strongest winds across the far west of scotland. with the colder air, increasingly through the day, the snow level on the hills of scotland comes down to about 300 metres. look at the temperature in stornoway, only three degrees. this evening and overnight, we say goodbye to this band of cloud and rain, there will be some clear skies. but further snow showers. and by the end of the night, to the higher ground in scotland, we could have about ten centimetres of lying snow and, at lower levels, potentially two centimetres. we have this cloud and rain piling in across england and wales. the brecon beacons and the shropshire hills could also see snow. watch out for ice first thing across the north.

and we have all this rain moving eastwards and across wales, brisk winds through the english channel. fewer showers across western scotland and northern ireland today. it could still be wintry and you could see a little of that at lower levels. by the end of the afternoon, snow across the hills of north west wales and north west england. 0vernight, we still do have this band of rain. and on its western flank, it could deposit snow across the chilterns and the downs. and you might see a dusting first thing. at the same time, we have the rain and the snow across northern england, moving across parts of scotland. some of this could also be at lower levels by the time you wake up first thing on friday morning. during friday, we have this snow and rain to say goodbye to, as it drifts westwards. a new band of rain coming in across the east. on its leading edge, likely to see snow predominantly on the hills. and in the north of the country, looking at brisk winds, so it will feel cold. driest conditions in the south—west. even so, here, it will also feel cold. that cold theme continues during the weekend. the driest day looks like being sunday.

this is bbc news. i'm joanna gosling. the headlines at 11: pfizer's vaccine has been approved by regulators for use in the uk and could be rolled out across the country next week. the mhra's recommendation has been reached following a thorough and scientific review of all the evidence. the uk expects to have millions of doses of the pfizer vaccine available by the end of the year — and the first 800,000 coming next week. i'm just so pleased that... 2020 has been just awful i'm just so pleased that... 2020 has beenjust awful and i'm just so pleased that... 2020 has been just awful and 2021 is going to been just awful and 2021 is going to be better and help is on its way. england's tier system is back

but with toughened measures. more than 55 million people are living in the strictest two tiers. as the second lockdown comes to an end in england, all nonessential shops can reopen. businesses are hoping for a flood of customers to provide a much needed boost in the run up to christmas. "0ur planet is broken" — that's the warning coming from the secretary general of the united nations. in a special bbc broadcast, antonio guterres will talk about tackling global warming, which is now a central objective of the un. good morning and welcome to bbc news. the uk has become the first country in the world to approve the pfizer/biontech coronavirus vaccine, with around 800,000 doses of the jab being made available

as early as next week. the medicines regulator says the vaccine — which offers up to 95% protection against coronavirus — is safe to be rolled out. 40 million doses of the pfizer/biontech have been pre—ordered by the government. the vaccine is currently not available in the uk the first supply of 800,000 vaccines will be sent from a pfizer laboratory in belgium. this will be enough to immunise 20 million people with two shots of the vaccine, which will be given 21 days apart. the health secretary says the first jabs will be prioritised to those most vulnerable to coronavirus, starting with care home residents and staff, followed by people aged over 80 and health care workers. around 50 hospitals are on standby ready to receive the vaccine, with community vaccination centres being established in venues such as conference centres. more details of when and where you might receive the vaccine will be given later this morning.

prime minister borisjohnson has taken to twitter and said protection from the vaccine would ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get the economy moving again. speaking in the last hour, drjune raine, chief executive of the medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency, said no corners had been cut in the development of the pfizer/biontech vaccine, and that it was now safe to be rolled out. the recommendation has been reached following a scientific and thorough review of all the evidence of safety, effectiveness and of quality of the pfizer/biontech vaccine. the uk government has now accepted this advice and has made the decision to approve the vaccine for use with some conditions. in adults aged 16 and over. the safety of the public

will always come first. separate teams have been working in parallel to deliver the most rigorous review of this vaccine. no corners have been cut. 0ur of this vaccine. no corners have been cut. our expert scientists and clinicians have worked round the clock, carefully, methodically poring over tables and analyses and g rafts poring over tables and analyses and grafts on every single piece of data. hundreds over 1,000 pages of data. hundreds over 1,000 pages of data and absolutely critically analysing the preclinical evidence, the clinical trials, the manufacturing and quality controls and then down to the final sample. we have also reviewed and agreed the prescribing information so that the public and health care professionals are very clear and can be very confident that the vaccine is being used in the correct way, understanding what is involved. and going forward from today, our national institute for biological

standards and control will be independently laboratory tested so that every single vaccine that goes out meets the same high standards of safety a nd out meets the same high standards of safety and quality. the health secretary matt hancock said today's landmark approval from the medicine's regulator, the mhra, would help save lives. 2020 has been such a terrible year, hasn't it, and help is on its way. and this news, for so long we've been saying that if a vaccine is developed then things will get better in 2021, and now we can say when this vaccine is rolled out, things will get better, and we will start that process next week. i'm obviously absolutely thrilled with the news and very proud that the uk is the first place in the world to have a clinically authorised vaccine ready to go. huge thanks to the scientists, to pfizer, the company. obviously to my team and kate bingham, and alok sharma, the business secretary,

who has done a huge amount of work on this. what it means for people is that from next week we'll be able to start rolling this out. we'll start with those who are most vulnerable to coronavirus, and you need two jabs, 21 days apart. and after that we will start protecting people as the protection comes with these two jabs, and it will help save lives, and then, once we've started protecting the most vulnerable, it will help us all get back to normal and back to all the things that we love. 0ur health correspondent naomi grimley is here. it has felt this morning like he was a cheerleader and then we had the very sober scientist with what was actually a pretty gripping briefing.

yes, they were unapologetically indulging in their expert status and that's because so much now will rely on trust and as being prepared to ta ke on trust and as being prepared to take this vaccine and that means that they really want to stress too is that corners have not been cut in this process. in fact, it's been happening simultaneously, happening with multiple overlapping sections and that's why they have been able to do it so quickly. they were asking the briefing about obviously we are the first regulatory authority to approve it for use in later i'm going to be talking to a german mep who says he's concerned that it has happened here quickly. what assurances did they specifically give about why the process has been quicker in this country versus the regulatory authorities in other countries? partly because they are able to see in real time the data that has been coming in from these pharmaceutical companies so they were able to

fast—track it, if you like. also there is a slight quirk of brexit here because the uk had this fleet of foot way of all carrying it without needing to go via the european union —— confirming it. there have been remarks from amsterdam saying they do think it might have been a little too premature in the uk. more on that later. the really big and interesting thing to come out of this press conference was the fact that they still think care home residents and carers should be the number one to get it, whilst at the same time saying there might be some operational constraints that make that difficult. so just then, tells what was said about how the process is going to work. journalists are obviously fascinated about who's going to be the first person to get it, they tried to dampen down the interest in that but how will these

things be decided? they want to stress they have come up with an advisory pecking order and i think we could probably see that now. number one is care home residents and carers, then you have those over 80 and front line health care workers, then you get down to number four, clinically extremely vulnerable people. those are the ones that had to shield during lockdown. and at number six, the 16 to 64—year—olds with underlying health conditions, may be things like diabetes that put you at serious risk of disease. the other thing that was really interesting to come out of this is that they are also saying they are going to pay due attention to things like deprivation, ethnicity and access to healthcare. also in their supporting document, they talk about professions like if you are a teacher, you might be more at risk

because in your every day work you are meeting more people. so there is discretion but will only learn about that later. there is discretion, yes, and they want to make it clear this is an advisory pecking order but they also acknowledge that policymakers, health care groups are going to have to make those decisions for themselves depending what is happening in their areas. thank you very much. let's talk about priority groups. we have been hearing, it's expected that vaccine supply will be limited at first, so vaccines will be prioritised for the most vulnerable. people in care homes and health care workers. we can talk now to ruthe isden from age uk. what are your thoughts as we entered a period where the expectation actually can be put to one side

because the reality delivers? well, like everybody, this is a tremendous announcement this morning. it's fantastic news. we recognise that for all of the recent you've been discussing this morning, we are still going to have to be patient. this will take time to get to the people it needs to get to so this isn't going to be an immediate silver bullet but the fact that we now have a vaccine after such a terrible year for so many people and theirfamilies is terrible year for so many people and their families is going terrible year for so many people and theirfamilies is going to be really welcome news and gives us much needed hope and optimism for 2021. what has been done about prioritising how it will actually work? covid tests will be sent to ca re work? covid tests will be sent to care homes in the immediate period asa care homes in the immediate period as a way of freeing up people to actually visit their loved ones in the care homes. also there will be a limited number of the vaccines and it depends on how they get rolled out. what would you expect the process to be in deciding where

everything is targeted and how it rolls out? i think that's going to be the tricky issue with this vaccine. it's absolutely right that ca re vaccine. it's absolutely right that care home residents and staff caring for them have been given top priority. we also understand this particular vaccine has some particular vaccine has some particular challenges about how you ta ke particular challenges about how you take it, the last yards, if you like, from delivery to the people who need to take it. it's going to bea who need to take it. it's going to be a very difficult process to work through some of those challenges so it may not happen quickly and it may of course be that this isn't the vaccine that is going to be right for those audiences and it may be one of the other vaccines that we hope is hard on the heel, so time and patience is going to be required but i think as we start to work through some of those challenges and know that the nhs is working very ha rd know that the nhs is working very hard in order to do its utmost to get it to the people who need it. we do hope we have more testing coming through into care homes so the guidance today on visiting means

that hopefully with all things being equal, more people will be able to start having that really important contact with their loved ones and as we work through those technical challenges through the coming weeks and getting the right vaccines out to quit home residents —— out to ca re to quit home residents —— out to care home residents, we can open up more widely, but i stress this isn't going to be a quick return to normal for anybody including residents and their relatives, is going to be incremental steps, but for the first timei incremental steps, but for the first time i think we can all see some really positive light at the end of the tunnel and a way out of this. it's important not to forget how ha rd it's important not to forget how hard it has been for people with loved ones in care homes. it's been absolutely heartbreaking. it's been absolutely heartbreaking. it's been a very difficult year for older people and their families, they have been isolated in their own homes, they have lost mobility and function but their cognitive function also—mac, and many haven't seen

their relatives in care homes in months. we haven't had face—to—face contact and for some people with dementia... sorry, i need to interrupt because we need to say goodbye to viewers on bbc two. we will see you soon. sorry to interrupt, ruth. do pick up. not at all! wishing them well. that contact, so many people have not seen contact, so many people have not seen their loved ones face—to—face four months and with people first sensory impairment who can't use technical means of communication, perhaps they have been able to wave to the loved ones through a window but for some not even that. it's devastating and it means for some people living with dementia, their families worry, rightly, that they don't even recognise them anymore. it's hard to overstate just how difficult and heartbreaking this has been for people. husbands and wives

who have been together for 50 years now separated so the sooner we can work through these challenges and get people back together with their families, the better. as you are describing, these elderly people in ca re describing, these elderly people in care homes are very often very vulnerable. what would you anticipate about actually giving them the vaccine and how active they are likely to be in the process of whether they would actually welcome it? these are some of the discussions we need to have. we know people have questions about the vaccine already and have been asking questions today and it's important we ta ke questions today and it's important we take the time to answer these questions and age uk will be doing our best to bring people the best information we can so they can make an informed decision so we all understand just how devastating outbreaks of this virus are in care homes so ensuring that people can be protected and loved ones can be protected and loved ones can be protected and loved ones can be protected and their staff is going

to be really important. it's going to be really important. it's going to be really important. it's going to be important. if families have questions, we'll need to take the time to talk it through that with them. so they have confidence in the vaccine or if they need to talk to the gp or nurse is about it, we should be enabling them to do hope that i would encourage everybody to look at the vaccine and to see the benefits of it and hopefully take it up benefits of it and hopefully take it up in due course. ruth of age uk, thank you very much. i love how you wished our viewers leaving us on bbc two well! social media is awash with conspiracy theories and false claims about a coronavirus vaccine — worlds apart from legitimate concerns and questions. with the news breaking today about vaccine approval, the same conspiracies are resurfacing online. how can we spot them? and who's spreading them? 0ur specialist disinformation reporter marianna spring joins me now.

what is out there? all kinds of conspiracy theories about a coronavirus vaccine have been out there for months and every time there for months and every time there is breaking news, like today with the pfizer/biontech vaccine, we see the same conspiracy theories resurfacing again and again and it's important to point out these are worlds away from legitimate questions and concerns people have about the efficacy and safety of a vaccine. for instance, we've seen memes pop up today about bill gates, this one in particular makes the allegation that bill gates isn't going to be —— is going to be putting microchips and people are surveilling them through the vaccine and people make false claims about how it is a means of deliberately hurting people or part of a depopulation plan. all of these claims are false and there is no evidence to substantiate them but now all it takes is a scary picture of bill gates to spread these kinds of bill gates to spread these kinds of disinformation. today, people need to be careful about what they are sharing on social media and what

they are seeing. think about how a post makes you feel. if it is a motive, a lot of these memes and posts are frightening, a lot of people might be excited about the news about the vaccines so just pause before you share, examine the source, where is it coming from? is it someone who gets viruses and vaccines are your friend's friend from years ago who don't really know? they are less trustworthy than the experts. and finally think about why something was shared. a lot of anti—vaxxer communities and pseudoscience groups are trying to exploit fear and anxiety about the pandemic in order to spread disinformation about coronavirus vaccines, so ask yourself, why did this person share this? is there any measure of how much the sort of stuff cuts through? it's difficult to put a number on that specifically. 0ne to put a number on that specifically. one thing we do know is that these kinds of memes and false claims are not limited to the really hardcore conspiracy circles

where they begin. they then spread into parent chats, local facebook groups and instagram feeds and a number of people have got in touch with the bbc about the kinds of memes and posts they are seeing in their community groups. the issue is it's not when news breaks new claims go viral that are false, rather it's the same ones that come up repeatedly and it's that that has an impact because if you keep seeing claims about bill gates or microchips, you might think, is there something to this? that doesn't mean there is, itjust means there's lots of disinformation. england has returned to a tiered system of coronavirus restrictions, after the national lockdown ended at midnight. more than 55 million people are living in the strictest two tiers — where mixing with other households indoors is banned. the measures were voted in yesterday, despite the prime minister suffering the biggest rebellion by his own mps since coming into office. from today more than 23 million people are now in the highest tier — tier 3. there's no socialising indoors or in private gardens.

pubs and restaurants can only do takeaways. more than 32 million — find themselves in tier 2. again no mixing indoors — but up to six people can meet outdoors. and you can go to restaurants or pubs that serve substantial meals with people you live with. tier1 has the lightest restrictions — but fewer than three quarters of one million people are in this tier, where up to six people from different households can socialise indoors our first report from our political correspondent jonathan blake with the end of a national lockdown in england comes a new three tier system of restrictions to get used to. from this morning, 99% of the population is under the higher two levels of controls for at least the next two weeks. here's how the new system of restrictions will work. shops, gyms and hairdressers will be allowed to reopen across the country. in tier 1, the lowest level of restrictions, groups of up to six people will be able to meet indoors or outdoors. pubs and restaurants can reopen,

with last orders at ten o'clock and closing at 11pm. in tier 2, groups of up to six people will still be able to meet outdoors but not indoors unless in a support bubble. pubs can only reopen if they are operating as a restaurant, and alcohol can only be served with a substantial meal. and in the highest level of restrictions, pubs and restaurants will be forced to provide takeaway only, and there will be no mixing of households except up to six people in public outdoor spaces like parks. so the ayes have it, the ayes have it. last night, mps approved the plans, but not without a struggle. 55 conservatives voted against the government, the biggest backbench rebellion of borisjohnson's time as prime minister. it's passed with a majority of well over 200. it's a very important set of regulations to help the uk bridge into the spring when we hope a vaccine will move us

into a whole different place. and the reason that these regulations mattered is it allows us to move to a tiered approach which, backed up by mass community testing, will help us keep control of the virus and avoid another lockdown. while the new tiers are stricter in some ways, there's plenty you can now do wherever you live in england that might make it feel like a return to something like life as normal. in another major change, people will be able to visit relatives in care homes. new guidance states that contact will be allowed in all three tiers if those visiting have tested negative for the virus. questions continue about the impact of restrictions, though. the labour leader sir keir starmer has challenged the government to publish more details of the economic impact of control measures as many businesses face uncertain weeks and months ahead. jonathan blake, bbc news. all nonessential shops in england can reopen today as the national lockdown has ended.

but with the news of arcadia and debenhams falling, what does this mean for the high street and retail shopping? according to the british retail consortium, prices in shops are tumbling in the run—up to christmas as the crisis on britain's high street worsens. our business presenter sima kotecha is on oxford street in central london now. how busy is it? not as busy as you might think. we haven't seen any queues outside stores. there is a primark down the road and we heard there were queues in birmingham, not here in london. this is the busiest shopping street in europe but we heard that arcadia, which owns burtons, dorothy perkins, top shop, went into administration, putting 13,000 jobs at risk so not good news. we've got a topshop here,

there are 50% off some of the things inside. many shoppers have told us they are looking for bargains. we know that some shops have reduced their prices hoping to make up that lost ground which they incurred during the lockdown is. to speak to me about this is katie barron, director of brand engagement. tell me what you think the mood is like among consumers at the moment. surprisingly the mood is quite buoyant because i think statistics show that actually 70% of people are looking to spend at least as much as they did last year and christmas shopping because there is a sense of christmas being a beacon in a rather bleak winter so far so i think there isa certain bleak winter so far so i think there is a certain amount of excitement but obviously trepidation about going back into stores and i think we're seeing that critically in central london at the moment because many have travelled to get here but as if we look at some of the

shopping centres on the peripheries of towns and cities, we probably will see quite a different picture. we know that online sales have done particularly well throughout this pandemic, however, sales within shops are traditionally a lot higher. we know that arcadia was behind its competitors in terms of online operation and investing in it. what do you think the messages here from companies that have gone under because they haven't done what people like boohoo have been doing? we've seen a huge flip to digital, people going online and spending online during the pandemic. it isn't something that's going to go away but people do want to spend on stores as well so i think what that tells us as it needs to be far better omni— channel experiences and far better services. retailers have to create a connection between physical stores and what they are doing online and creating a much more exciting online experience as

well. you've got the kind of big players like boohoo and zara doing well online and also technological start—ups, people creating virtual flagships. charlotte tilbury orjo malone where you can get on a website and explore the physical store from your desktop, we are seeing these innovations which some of the heavyweights of the high street. this used to be called the mothership, that's how it was referred to by industry people. they are losing out because they haven't quite been quick enough because they felt like the legacy of these big store spaces would be enough to carry them through and unfortunately it hasn't so we're definitely going to see a shift these big legacy players taking some cues from disruptive brands and much younger online players. where do we go now for companies like topshop because we know arcadia which owns it is in administration but what does it mean for places like this? we really

don't know what's going to happen with it. people want to drop on it asa with it. people want to drop on it as a brand because it has huge affection for british consumers, whether it's for the design or collaborations it did but i think we are going to see this big omni— channel, digital re—routing. the thank you, katie. apologies to the viewers if you heard some of that bad language we just encountered. thank you very much. dr peter liese is a german mep and medical doctor who sits on the european parliament's public health committee. he is not happy about the approval of the pfizer/biontech vaccine today. why are you not happy about that? i'm happy that we have a vaccine and i think it is a serious

company, we supported them with european union funds but only a few hours ago biontech sent the data for a conditional market licence and that's why it is a bit problematic to say that now everything is fine and you can start the vaccination. germany would also have the option. it's not a brexit issue. european law allows emergency authorisation, but germany is not doing it like many other european countries because we think and approval with the european medical agency is more safe and also gives more liability to the company so i think it is problematic because the risk is higher than after approval of the european medical agency and the liability for the company is not

there when emergency authorisation is given. to be clear, all countries have their regulatory authority and here we have been hearing from ours there was a lengthy news conference answering journalists' questions about concerns including the question about why it is that the uk has been able to authorise the use before other countries and we heard from the head of that organisation, no corners have been cut, safety is our watchword, it's been a scientifically rigorous check through work in a rolling review with scientists going through that process , with scientists going through that process, basically working 20 47 —— 24, seven. you are saying that's the process in every country but then the european medical agency is the final arbiter. no, not really. the european medical agency also has a

rolling review but other member states of the european union, or other states that are bound to eu law, the uk is bound to eu law until the end of the year, but other member states decided not to go for a national emergency authorisation except hungary, which did it with the russian vaccine. that's the only example except the uk, because the other member states think it is necessary to look more carefully and to conditional market licensing can only be given if the company delivers more data and accepts more liability than the emergency authorisation. that's the reason why i think it's a better way. emergency authorisation is normally for an individual patient that suffers from a disease, which you cannot cure and

that's why we need to try because we don't have anything else. here, people are vaccinated where it is not at all sure they will get the disease in the next three or four weeks. we have other means to protect people and i think that's why the more strict regime like the conditional market licence is the best way now. can you spell out clearly the additional checks that come with going through the european medicines agency? to your knowledge, has there ever been a situation where something, a vaccine has been approved for use by an individual regulatory body and then it has been blocked by the european medicines agency? never before has any member state of the european union or any other state and europe has approved a

vaccine with emergency authorisation. the only other case as hungary. i understand that point, has that ever been a situation where the european medicines agency has then blocked something happening, and other once has seen something that an individual country body has not. that happens currently. when you have emergency authorisation at asa you have emergency authorisation at as a real instrument but after more months normally this time it will be weeks you find some additional questions, the main question for me as f.c. want to protect the risk groups, the elderly, is the really enough evidence that the vaccine as safe for these groups should be better look more carefully in this issue, the vaccine may work perfectly for people like me but not for people like my mother who is 80

and she should get at first but the question is is it as safe for her as it is for me. thank you. no doubt at home you will have questions about the vaccine, everybody is interested in what we have been hearing this morning, the vaccine has been approved for use in the uk and if you have questions get in touch because we are going to be answering as many as we can in the next few minutes. the usual ways of getting in touch on social media. fairly quiet for most today although pretty cold across the north and west. a bright early start and the south—east, cloud moving south, sunshine and showers behind blown and on a brisk wind, strongest

across the north—west of scotland, snow on the how is and more during this evening and overnight, at the end of the night because have ten centimetres on the tops of the hills. the potential for centimetres on the tops of the hills. the potentialfor two centimetres at low levels but thicker cloud and rain coming our way for the rest of the uk. ice in the north and also frost and tomorrow fewer showers through the day but still the potential for some to be wintry. cloud and rain moves east and north across england and wales, brisk winds and the english channel and whatever you are at cold. hello this is bbc news, the headlines. pfizer's vaccine has been approved by regulators for use in the uk and could be rolled out across the country next week. england's tier system is back but with toughened measures. more than 55—million people are living in the strictest two tiers.

as the second lockdown comes to an end in england, all nonessential shops can reopen . businesses are hoping for a flood of customers to provide a much needed boost in the run up to christmas. ‘0ur planet is broken'. that's the warning coming from the secretary general of the united nations. in a special bbc broadcast, antonio guterres will talk about tackling global warming, which is now a central objective of the un. we're expecting a news conference from biontech in germany — following the news that their vaccine has been approved by uk regulators. the pfizer vaccine was developed by the german pharma company biontech, it says this is the first emergency authorisation for a covid—19 vaccine worldwide.

my my colleagues, your questions. we have two important announcements to make today about the vaccine developer programme. firstly we have to announce that today the first global emergency use authorisation has been granted for phase three clinical data backed covid—19 vaccine by the uk regulatory agency. we have started immediately the process of delivering our vaccine and we expect the roll—out of the vaccine and the uk will happen within the next couple of days.

secondly we would like to report that on monday building on our rolling review which was initiated in october this year we have formally filed an application for conditional market authorisation with the european medicines agency. biontech will be the marketing authorisation holder for the biontech will be the marketing authorisation holderfor the eu, the uk and the us and various other countries. our esteemed partner pfizer will do the marketing and distribution in these and various other countries. let me briefly show you a high—level overview about our journey and the last couple of

months. we called our development programme for covid—19 lightspeed because you cannot go faster than light and this is what we aimed for. this journey started in january this year and was devoted to the development of a well tolerated and effective covid—19 vaccine following the highest scientific and ethical standards. this was a journey of 10-11 standards. this was a journey of 10—11 months which started with engineering multiple vaccine candidates of which several entered clinical testing phase one and april this year. injuly we clinical testing phase one and april this year. in july we selected together with our partner pfizer one of those candidates the most promising one for a large phase three trial and in november this

year we reported that in this trial vaccine has made all primary efficacy points. 0n the next slide you can see that project lightspeed has in fact global concerted large—scale effort. 0ur phase three trial has been conducted in multiple countries in the us, argentina, brazil, germany, south africa and turkey. the phase three trial has reached the final end point in mid—november. in addition to that we have regulatory submissions on a rolling basis, ongoing not only in the eu but also additional countries such as canada and australia. we have in addition an application at

the us fda for emergency use organisation like mike authorisation of our vaccine and the us and we are awaiting decisions by the fda mid december and this is also the time horizon in which we expect decisions on our conditional marketing authorisation application. we have ongoing trials in japan authorisation application. we have ongoing trials injapan and together with our partner we have an ongoing phase two trial with our vaccine in china. 0n phase two trial with our vaccine in china. on top of these programmes there are rolling submissions to further countries planned. in our controlled randomised minded phase three trial the vaccine was tested

with two injections 21 days apart at relatively low as compared to a placebo. healthy participants were eligible, and total more than 43,000 subjects were immunised, mostly 18-85 subjects were immunised, mostly 18—85 years of age. an independent data monitoring committee assessed the efficacy of a relaxing, the efficacy was assessed based on the number of confirmed covid—19 cases starting seven days after the second injection. in the placebo arm, 162 cases of covid—19 were reported while in the arm with vaccinated subjects we counted eight cases.

this is a vaccine efficacy of 95%. you can see on this slide that high vaccine efficacy was observed across all subpopulations including all age groups, also including older adults of 65 years and higher. across ethnicities and also across gender. the independent data monitoring committee did not note any serious safety concerns, and fight our vaccine was well tolerated. we observed the common reactions you would have with vaccination, including pain at injection side, fatigue, headache, muscle pain, mostly and generally these reactions

we re mostly and generally these reactions were mild—to—moderate and short lived. at worst events of grade three were very real. we observed only fatigue and a small percentage and headache into percent of participants and about 98% of participants and about 98% of participants who received the first dose came back for the second shot. we will continue to follow—up with participants and our trials for efficacy and safety for two years and report on our observations. as they come up. with this i would hand over to my colleague. thank you. i am the co—founder and ceo of biontech and i would like to give

you a background about the science behind our vaccines and introduce you to useful background information about the molecule. it is a new drug entity so not yet approved and if this vaccine is going to be approved at well be the first messenger drug which would be available as a pharmaceutical product. however it isa very pharmaceutical product. however it is a very known molecule, actually the first molecule of life and every human being and animal has mrna and the cells so it is a intermediate molecule so many people know dna

which has the stable genetic information and mrna is produced and sales and after being produced edge serves as a template to make proteins but what is important is not a stable molecule, it is active only for a few days and as degraded by the cellular machinery. 0ur mrna which we use for making the vaccine mimics the natural mrna molecule and has no other components than the naturally well— known molecules. has no other components than the naturally well—known molecules. it is transiently active like any other natural mrna, it includes the spike protein and then rapidly degraded within a few days. why is mrna such

a powerful solution for this pandemic? it is a molecule which was studied by research more than 50 years including basic research applications as well as clinical research mrna molecules are tested and clinical studies for more than 20 years. the role for this pandemic is based on the simple use of this technology to make a vaccine. what we do is take a piece of the genetic information of a virus and encode this information using our mrna platform. then this is formulated with lipids to make a nano particle

which protects the messenger rna so it is not to graded and it allows it to deliver it to specialise sales and the body which helps us mode a strong immune response. after delivery it is done by intramuscular injection, after a feud is the mrna is dictated. —— after a few days eight as degraded. it is one of the most precise vaccine technologies, it is important it is free of virus, it is important it is free of virus, it is important it is free of virus, it isa it is important it is free of virus, it is a precise immune response of the immunised person is directed only against coronavirus and not against anything else. it does not integrate into the dna and of course it is only transiently active and non—infectious. another advantage as it can scale up the production to

produce many millions of doses. 0ur goal is to produce more than 1.3 billion doses and 2021 and my colleague will provide you more background. this slide explains what is important to understand why mrna vaccines work so the lipid nanoparticles is taken up by specialised cells and then the mrna is translated into the spike protein which is the protein which makes the virus enter into you and sales. we get an immune response by so—called t cells which are able to see the vilest inside of cells and eliminate them and beget antibody responses which bind to the spike protein and prevent the virus from infection of human cells. it is important this type of vaccine induces a memory

immune response so type of vaccine induces a memory immune response so it means the immune response so it means the immune response so it means the immune response that is generated could stay for months, maybe years to protect the vaccinated individual against infection. in the last 11 months to be not only did the clinical trial and evaluated the safety of the molecule but we analysed this mode of action and determined that our vaccine is indeed able to induce strong antibody responses and strong t cell responses. we have evaluated the safety of the vaccine using a range of different essays and different species and evaluated the vaccine and the early phase and younger and older adults to identify a safe and highly active dose. based on this

research we we re highly active dose. based on this research we were able to start the face that he conical trial which has just explained before. these —— phase three clinical trial. we are continuing though with the distribution of the vaccine. thank you, i distribution of the vaccine. thank you, lam responsible distribution of the vaccine. thank you, i am responsible for distribution at biontech. just to start about how we are going to effectively distribute globally the vaccine. we have two highly effective partnerships who have a significant and flat structure to help, the first is pfizer which is a partnership we set out in the

spring, one of the largest pharmaceutical companies and the world, present and more than 100 countries and it has a through mendis the successful track record in vaccine franchises and numerous approvals. this expertise also extends to global logistics infrastructure to ensure we can get the vaccine it to everyone very quickly and together with our partner, this is our first vaccine we are testing second—generation vaccine candidates and the clinic and formulations as well. our partnership and china is with one of the largest chinese pharmaceutical companies with over 28,000 employees, providing end—to—end capabilities in china with

significant coverage of the country up significant coverage of the country up to 33 of the 34 provinces. again chosen to help us get this vaccine to everyone as quickly as we can in china. just moving on. just looking at our global commitments to date. the important numbers to focus on our we have together with pfizer signed commitments to more than 570 million doses committed in 2020—21 with an additional 600 million doses reserved as an option. these numbers change everyday. that the moment we are in additional discussions with a numberof are in additional discussions with a number of countries which we are adding to our list and you can see

boxes showing just what we committed by which region but the most important thing is what we are trying to do here is really served everyone worldwide and the best way be can. moving on to cause chain supply —— cold chain supply, this has been developed specifically for the uk because we are talking a particular about the uk today. the doses we have for the uk and currently being packed by our colleagues at pfizer at the facility in belgium ready for shipping quickly. these go into what we call thermal boxes that aloe up to 1500 doses which we will ship by a lorry

or plane whatever is most appropriate. these boxes are temperature controlled and we have a tracker to provide a minute by minute information on the temperature before me deliver it to the site of distribution and the uk or injection. some facts about the vials, i mentioned the trays can ta ke vials, i mentioned the trays can take up to 1000 doses, one vial is one tree of vaccine is sufficient for at least 100 people. each vial contains five doses, they littered with normalcy ein solution —— they littered with normal saline solution

-- it is littered with normal saline solution —— it is more than enough to vaccinate five people from one vial. a bit about administration. this is no different than any other vaccination, you go to your centre, you roll up your sleeve and you receive in the arm and injection at room temperature of this vaccine. it is they littered and saline. -- it is —— it is diluted in saline. you can store it at —74 for up to 15 days, you can open the box twice a day and

this gives under one flexibility because you can put it on a table and take the vials out and if you so choose you can take them out of the box and put them in a fridge and keep them stable in the fridge for five days. in addition we have worked at looking at transport and how it might affect the stability of the vaccine if we defrost it and transported it and we have done this to consider some of the satellite centres which everyone wants to reach, particularly care home must resume not want to transport people and the homes to a centre but the

other way round and we have stability studies supporting the evidence being able to transport up to six hours at two to 8 degrees so you can take vials from a vaccination centre, put them and a bag and take them to the care homes where they can be administered directly to patients. the uk is the first approval today, we are absolutely delighted about that. we are not stopping there, we have the united states review on the 10th of december, european union here is expected to come to a decision and decemberand we

expected to come to a decision and december and we expect from that regulatory discussions with a number of regulatory parties and bodies across the world and the coming weeks and months. it is worth saying that we are deeply involved with the regulatory authorities, biontech being marketing authorisation holders means we have a responsibility with our partners but primarily biontech as responsible for this product and owns it and the united states, europe and the united kingdom as well as canada and other countries. with that i think we can move into any questions and you may have an answer is we may give. ladies and gentlemen we are happy to ta ke ladies and gentlemen we are happy to take your questions and to ask a

question please usually chat function and type your question. the first question is from itv. is this the first mrna vaccine are you on anyone else have had approved? yes, it is. how important is it any reminder that other vaccines are approved in order to support this programme? we believe that news conference from biontech and those who set up the company, you mi have read profiles of this couple who have become rock stars of the medical world to have developed this vaccine to be approved for distribution by the regular tory authorities here and they were talking —— the regulatory authorities. they are hoping to produce 1.3 billion doses next year

and they but explaining how that vaccine works. we will have more analysis of that later but coming up as prime minister's questions so it's go to westminster. what you expected it? org—mac, org-mac, this should be a much less difficult prime minister's questions for borisjohnson difficult prime minister's questions for boris johnson than difficult prime minister's questions for borisjohnson than it looked last night. he is coming to the dispatch box under the biggest rebel into his leadership so far, 55 tories were against his tiered approach. he will be approaching pm qs with a big boost from that. we see labour pushing at the government from things like being too slow during the pandemic and this will allow borisjohnson to say, we are the first to have approved this and it offers a light at the end of the tunnel, a way out of these tiered

restrictions so expect to hear a lot about that and i would expect him to poke at labour a bit about their decision to abstain on those tiered restrictions yesterday. labour are likely to point out that even with that big hope of the vaccine and the roll—out starting from next week, there is still going to be many more months that we will be living under restrictions and i will expect labour to be pushing on the economic impact of that and how the government plans to deal with that and to fix it, and in particular there is a document that the government has which apparently shows some analysis of the worst hit sectors. they have not released that. we'll expect keir starmer to push for the release of that particular document. downing street, the prime minister's official spokesman yesterday said this document was made up of publicly available information but i would expect that to be something we hear about in this pmqs. unusually late

starting today. i think the speaker is introducing pmqs. let's listen in. today i'm proudly wearing purple to celebrate the international day for disabled people tomorrow. make sure we will publish a national strategy for disabled people which will be the most ambitious intervention in this area for a generation including fairness at the heart of the government's work and levelling up so that everybody has the opportunity to fully participate in the life of this country. i know that the whole house will want to join me in welcoming the fantastic news that the mhra has formally authorised the pfizer vaccine for covid—19. it will be made available across the uk from next week. i pay tribute to those who have made this

possible. it is the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives and get our economy moving again. this morning, i had meetings with ministerial collea g u es i had meetings with ministerial colleagues and others in addition to my duties in this house i shall have other such meetings later today. i'd like to share the congratulations with the prime minister on the creation of this new vaccine at the speed with which it has gone out and to give that congratulations especially to the engineers, technicians and scientists who delivered it. i believe we should support the widest distribution of safe and effective medicines, but does my honourable friend i agree it should be taken on a wholly volu nta ry should be taken on a wholly voluntary basis by individuals and families? absolutely, i strongly urge that people take up the vaccine but it is no part of our culture or our ambition but it is no part of our culture or ourambition in but it is no part of our culture or our ambition in this country to make

vaccines mandatory. that's not how we do things. the leader of the opposition, the right honourable keir starmer. ijoined opposition, the right honourable keir starmer. i joined the opposition, the right honourable keir starmer. ijoined the prime ministerand keir starmer. ijoined the prime minister and his comments on disabled people and like the prime minister, i start with the fantastic news about the licensing of a vaccine. this pandemic has caused so much grief and so much loss but we are now a big step closer to the end of the tunnel and, like the prime minister, cani of the tunnel and, like the prime minister, can i expect my thanks to everyone across the house, all the scientists who have worked on this and everybody who has taken part in the trials. delivering a vaccine fairly quickly and safely will now be the next major challenge facing the country and whatever our differences across this house, we all have a duty to play our part in this national effort and to reassure the public about the safety of the vaccine. this morning, a priority list has been published for the first phase of the rollout. we

understand that around 800,000 doses will soon be available and that's good news. because of the two doses required, 400,000 people can be vaccinated in the first batch so can the prime minister tell the house, who does he expect to receive the vaccine next week? i'm grateful to the right honourable gentleman for his point about the roll—out and let me update the house on what thejcvi has concluded so far. the priority list will be residence in care homes, older adults and their carers to stop transmission of all those 80 yea rs of to stop transmission of all those 80 years of age and older, front line health care and social care workers and all those of 75 years of age and over and all those of 70 years of

age and over, the clinically extremely vulnerable individuals and then a list that i am sure the house will want to study closely but i believe does represent common sense. i think it's very important at this stage for us all to recognise that this is unquestionably good news. it's very, very good news but it is by no means the end of the story. it is not the end of our national struggle against coronavirus and that's why it's very important that the package of moderate but tough measures that the house voted for last night, the tiered system, is followed across the country because that's how we will continue to beat the virus. the prime minister referenced the priority for the first phase in the top two groups are residents in care homes and older adults and carers, those 80 years old and over and front line

social care workers. i'm not criticising that list in the slightest but it's obvious that that is more than 400,000 people in the prime minister will understand how anxious people in those particular groups are after having sacrificed so groups are after having sacrificed so much so can the prime minister tell us the answer to the question that they are going to be asking this morning, which is when does he expect that people in those two top groups can expect to be vaccinated? i think at this stage it is very, very important that people do not get their hopes up too soon about the speed with which we will be able to roll out this vaccine. it is beginning from next week. we are expecting several million doses of the pfizer/biontech vaccine before the pfizer/biontech vaccine before the end of the year and we will then be rolling it out as fast as we possibly can but that is why i have put so much emphasis on the

continuing importance of the tiering system and mass community testing at the same time as we go forward through these tough winter months because we will need at the same time as we roll out the vaccine, and he's right to ask about timetables, as we roll out the vaccine over the next few weeks, we will need to keep that tough tiering and testing regime in place. can i press the prime minister a bit further about the plan for care homes? i do so because we all want this to work because we all want this to work because that top category is residents in care homes and that all of us to bea residents in care homes and that all of us to be a huge concern for many people. this morning, the welsh government has already raised practical problems about the delivery of vaccines into care homes. that is bearing in mind the temperatures at which the vaccines have to be stored. the prime minister must know this is going to bea minister must know this is going to be a four nation problem. obviously we all want to overcome this problem

and it's in that spirit that i ask the prime minister what plans has he put in place to address these particular problems of getting the vaccine safely and quickly into care homes, given the practical difficulties of doing so and the anxiety that those care homes will have about getting it quickly? he is entirely right to raise the issue of ca re entirely right to raise the issue of care homes and the ability to distribute this particular type of vaccine rapidly into care homes because it does need to be kept at -70 because it does need to be kept at —70 celsius as i think the house understands —— —70 degrees. so i think there are challenges to get people access to the vaccine. we are working on it with all of the devolved administrations in order to ensure the nhs across the country is able and it's the nhs that will be in the lead, the nhs is able to

distribute it as fast and as sensibly as possible to the most vulnerable groups but he is right to raise that particular logistical difficulty, that's why it's also important that we get the astrazeneca vaccine which we hope will also come on stream and while he is paying tribute to those who have been involved in the vaccines, perhaps he could also pay tribute to the work of the vaccine task force which secured the deal with pfizer and which i think you criticise only and which i think you criticise only a few weeks ago. i pay tribute to everybody who has got us this far and will work with all of them to get us where we need to go. this has to be something on which we all pull together to deliver this as quickly and safely as possible over the next few months and i've made that offer to the premise to before and i'll do it again. it's in that vein that i turn to the next question, which is public confidence in the vaccine which is a real cause for concern because that's going to be crucial to the success of getting this rolled out across the country,

getting our economy back up and running. as the prime minister knows, we got the highest regulatory and medical safety standards in the world, but it's really important we do everything possible to counter dangerous, frankly life—threatening disinformation about vaccines. we call for legislation to be introduced to clamp down on this with financial penalties for companies that fail to act so will the premise work with us on this and bring forward emergency legislation in the coming days which i think the whole house would support? we are working to tackle all kinds of disinformation across the internet and he's right that the anti—vaxxers, who i think are totally wrong in their approach, and he's right to encourage the take—up of vaccines across the country and we will be publishing paper very shortly on online harms designed to

tackle the very disinformation that he speaks of. can i also urge the prime minister, once the government has a communications plan for the vaccine, can he share it with the house so we can all say the same thing in the same way to the country and encourage as many people to take up and encourage as many people to take up the vaccine as possible? the arrival of a vaccines office a wonderful news but it will come too late to many who have lost their jobs already and i want to turn to the collapse of arcadia and debenhams in the last 48 hours which has put 25,000 jobs at risk and caused huge anxiety to many families at the worst possible time and threatens to rip the heart out of many high streets in our towns and cities. can the prime minister tell the house, what is he going to do now to protect the jobs and pensions of all those affected by these closures? we are looking at what we can do to protect all of the jobs

that have been lost across the country and my friend max the secretary of state for skills has written to the insolvency department of the arcadia directors and will be doing everything we can to restore the high streets of this country with our £1 billion high streets fund and a levelling up fund, but i must say i think it is a bit much that the honourable gentleman should attack the economic consequences of the fight against coronavirus when last night, neither he nor his troops could be bothered to vote for measures, sensible, balanced measures, sensible, balanced measures that would open up the economy and allow businesses to trade. how can he attack the economic consequences of our battle against coronavirus when he won't even support measures to open up the economy? when i abstain, i come to

the house and explain. when the prime minister abstains, he the house and explain. when the prime ministerabstains, he runs away to afghanistan and gives the taxpayer a £20,000 bill. on the question ofjobs, there are serious questions that need to be answered about the collapse of these businesses and i don't want the prime minister to deflect that and what it means for many families because this isn't an isolated incident. over 200,000 retail jobs have been lost this year. that's 200,000 individuals and their families, 20,000 stores have been closed on our high streets and that's before the latest restrictions. i suspect if we had seen restrictions. i suspect if we had seen that scale ofjob losses and any other sector, there would have been much greater action already so iurge been much greater action already so i urge the prime minister to take this seriously. don't deflect. as well as providing emergency support, will the prime minister work with ours, with the trade unions and the sector, to finally bring forward a comprehensive plan to save retail

jobs and provide the sector with a much greater support it needs during this crisis? these are real people with realjobs and families facing the sack. they really need to hear from you. we are of course supporting everyjob we possibly can as well as every life and livelihood with a £200 million programme but i would take it more seriously if he did notabstain would take it more seriously if he did not abstain on a vote to open up the economy and keep the virus down. we are getting on with our programme of rolling out the vaccine with sensible tiering measures, in addition to which we are delivering more hospitals and 20,000 more police officers and he talks about abstention. when it came to protecting our veterans from unfair prosecution, he chose to abstain. when it came to protecting the people of this country from coronavirus at this critical moment,

he told his troops to abstain. captain hindsight is rising rapidly up captain hindsight is rising rapidly up the ranks and has become general indecision. that's what's happening, i'm afraid. he dithers, we get on with thejob. i'm afraid. he dithers, we get on with the job. next week marks one year since the prime minister one a mighty majority and turn the redwall blue, ensuring communities would no longer be neglected. a new infrastructure bank has been promised. mr speaker, wakefield is the crossroads of the kingdom. our cathedral spire of the tallest in god's on country and historically the principal city of west yorkshire and the red wall, which make it the

perfect city for the new bank's home. will he commit to put the new infrastructure bank in wakefield and restore the city's glory? he is a magnificent campaigner for wakefield andi magnificent campaigner for wakefield and i know the chancellor will listen closely to his call for the national infrastructure bank to be established in wakefield and he should wait on events. let's go up to scotland with the leader of the snp, ian blackford. this morning for the first time in months, people have woken up with a genuine sense of hope. the news of a vaccine approval is the news we have all been waiting for but, mr speaker, that hope on the horizon remains far too distant. there are millions who still have not had a single penny of support from the uk government. as others rightly received help, they received none. prime minister, yesterday i met with a group who

represent many of these 3 million citizens. for the past nine months we have been living without any help or hope and it is now tragically costing lives. prime minister, they told me something genuinely shocking, they are aware of eight people who have taken their lives in the last ten days. eight people in ten days. prime minister, we are now a little over three weeks from christmas. these people need help. will the prime minister committed to looking again at the support package for the excluded to ensure no one is left behind? i obviously sympathise very much with those who have taken their lives and their families and this has been a very tough time for the country. we are investing massively in mental health support across the country, as he notes,

which flows to scotland through the barnett consequence and we put in a huge package of support. there are ha rd to huge package of support. there are hard to reach people but they are also supported with the increases in universal credit and the many other means of support that are currently on offer and i think when you look at the overall level of support, this government has given to people across the country, it compares favourably with any other government around the world. i have to say with regret, that simply isn't good enough. these people need help and i'm asking the prime minister to think very carefully about this. this has been an abject failure by the uk government and the prime minister has been missing in action. the government has you turned on everything else so why can't the prime minister and the chancellor change their minds on their support for these 3 million people? these are people working in events,

construction, education, hospitality, retail and health care who haven't just been hospitality, retail and health care who haven'tjust been left behind but been ignored for nine months. the chancellor has repeatedly dogged this issue. excluded uk haven't been offered one formal meeting with the government minister. will the prime minister commit today to a meeting and working with excluded uk on a meaningful package of support or is the prime minister simply going to abandon these people three weeks from christmas? we have abandoned nobody and are continuing to support people. we have announced nearly, in addition to the support i've mentioned, nearly 400 million families through the winter. we have increased universal credit, increase local housing allowance, provided billions more to local authorities to help those who are hard to reach,

but i may say to the honourable gentleman that the best way to help the self—employed, to help the economy of this whole country, is to get us moving again with the package of measures that the house voted for last night, to allow retail to start up last night, to allow retail to start up again, to allow business to start up up again, to allow business to start up again. it's shameful. we on this side of the house do not think retailers shameful. we want businesses to open up again and that is the nature of the package that was voted for last night which i think was quite right. it's a great shame that the honourable gentleman opposite could not bring himself to support it. at this time of enormous pressure on our health care, can i welcome the government and the nhs's continued commitment to the new combined medical facility in edenbridge. can he confirm to me

that the sale of the existing memorial hospital which was built by public donation about a century ago will now help fund the new building? he is investing £20 million in the medicines manufacturing fund to benefit wales, scotland, england and northern ireland so will he join me in welcoming the skill of all those in the nhs and indeed the health secretary in making historic donations work for our communities today? i can, and i congratulate him on his campaign. any decision to allow for the sale of the hospital asa allow for the sale of the hospital as a matter for the local ccg —— allow for the sale of the hospital as a matterfor the local ccg —— is as a matterfor the local ccg —— is a matter, but! as a matterfor the local ccg —— is a matter, but i know he is supporting the £12 million we put in for the development of a new health and well—being centre for edenbridge. to wales with liz savo roberts. i'd like to welcome the

vaccine, this is a ray of light in dark times, but last week his government published a statement of funding showing a reduction in the amount wales receives through transport to in england from 80.9% to 36%. this reveals in black and white the iniquity of the rail betrayal being inflicted on wales. welsh taxpayers are paying for english transport and h52 but don't get a english transport and h52 but don't geta fair english transport and h52 but don't get a fair return. could he inform the house how much investment he is funnelling away from wales due to his government's decision to label this white elephant in england and wales scheme despite not a single inch of the railway being in wales? isimply inch of the railway being in wales? i simply failed to recognise the characterisation that the honourable lady makes of investment across the whole of the uk. the welsh government will receive an

additional £1.3 billion next year and we are providing 200 million more to support industries, to support fisheries in wales, and the last time i looked at transport in wales, the welsh labour government spent £144 million on a plan for a m4 bypass which they then junked. the people of abercrombie would like to thank the prime minister for his early christmas present in this vaccine. like many presents, we might not have made it, but this government, this union could afford to buy it for this country. this saturday i was talking with small businesses who have had to deal with flooding in february and the pandemic since march. all they want to do is trade so will my honourable friend join me in thanking the

people who battled through a really difficult 2020, and does he agree that this news of a vaccine and its licensing gives real hope to these three women, these three entrepreneurs and thousands like them across the uk, hope for a better 2021? yes indeed, mr speaker. i congratulate the three female entrepreneurs that he mentions and they will be helped by the vaccine and they will be allowed to do business again and what a shame it is that our programme to sensibly and safely open up the economy was not supported by the gent—mac. and safely open up the economy was not supported by the gent-mac. to preston with sir mark hendry. the prime minister has put at risk the good friday agreement and peace in northern ireland after promising the people of this country he would not. he promised the country a world beating track and trace system and conveniently forgot to provide the track and trace part of the promise. he promised to deal with the eu to

win the 2019 general election and we look like having no deal. when will the prime minister follow through on his promises instead of behaving like a second—hand car salesman?“ the honourable gentleman is saying that he wants to keep this country in the eu, which i think was the gist of that, then he's going to be sorely disappointed and so will the party opposite. they said that britain was a nation of shopkeepers and in stockton, we are proud to have some of the best retailers in the country. they've had a tough year. they are grateful for the support they have received from the government but remain concerned about the future of business rates. can my honourable friend confirm the government remains committed to a fundamental review of business rates and will he join me in encouraging people to get down to their local

high street and shop local this christmas? yes, indeed. my honourable friend reminds me it is a small business saturday this saturday and everybody should be shopping local, but i can also tell him that the treasury are calling for business rates in ahead of the review and spring. we all know it will take a long time for many industries to recover from the impact of coronavirus. the aviation sector and its supply chain which supports almost a quarter of! millionjobs has supports almost a quarter of! million jobs has been supports almost a quarter of! millionjobs has been impacted. many workers and their families at ge aviation in pontypridd have been financially ruined and i know it is a familiar scenario for families up and down the country. the prime minister needs to wake up to this situation urgently so will he commit toa situation urgently so will he commit to a sector specific support deal to save our to a sector specific support deal to save our aviation industry before it is too late? we are doing a huge

amount to support our aviation industry but i appreciate the stress and difficulty is that many families are in at the moment because of the threats to that sector, which are global because people just are not flying the way that they were before the pandemic, but i have every hope that it will bounce back very strongly, particularly in this country which is a world leader in aviation. 0nce country which is a world leader in aviation. once we get the economy moving again as i hope we can. in north somerset, small businesses are the lifeblood of the economy, like in the rest of the uk, providing 60% of otherjobs. after covid we will require a private sector small business led recovery. can i ask the prime minister if he will require a new discipline in the form of a small business test so that every tax and bit of legislation is measured against whether or not it will provide support for this sector which will be vital for recovery? he

isa which will be vital for recovery? he is a great champion of small businesses. every measure the government produces is judged businesses. every measure the government produces isjudged by the effect it has but we are also providing for these particularly difficult circumstances about £100 billion of business support. the bounce back loans and many other forms of support. the best thing for businesses large and small as to shop local and allow the economy, cautiously and prudently, to reopen. i want to congratulate the prime minister is next week marks his first year in post. however, in that time, over71,000 first year in post. however, in that time, over 71,000 covid deaths, the highest rate in europe, over 2 trillion in debt, the worst performing economy in the g7. failing brexit negotiations and at

least 1.5 billion of taxpayers' money spent on contracts to tory friends and donors. whilst at the same time whipping his mps to vote against meals for hungry children. which one of these achievements as he most proud of? which one of these achievements is he most proud of? i take her point more seriously if she and her party could be bothered to vote for measures. . . could be bothered to vote for measures... sorry, she defied the labourwhip, measures... sorry, she defied the labour whip, forgive me, mr speaker, she defied the injunction to dither from the ditherer in chief, but it would be a good thing, she didn't obey the instructions to dither, but i would take a more seriously if her party leader would vote for measures that would open up the economy whilst protecting lives across the uk. let's head to lincoln. good afternoon, mr speaker. i would

like to thank my right honourable friend and his cabinet colleagues for last week for grant to my question for the relief road around my constituency in looking. i look forward to seeing the combustion engine vehicles for many decades to come. my constituents have been clear on the decisions on lockdown as they normally and refreshingly. lincolnshire is a very big space, will my right honourable friend seriously consider allowing local decision—makers the chance to set tier decisions locally? local decision makers know their patch is far better than any whitehall decision. local businesses include agero three uk members who are yet to receive any support and are desperate to get back to work in five of the uk economy.” desperate to get back to work in five of the uk economy. i repeat what i said to the head several times yesterday afternoon and i'm grateful to my honourable friend, of course we want to reflect local conditions as closely and accurately

as we can in taking our decisions about tiering, but we must look at the entire national picture and on his point about internal combustion engines, ijust remind him that a hydrogen engine can also be an internal combustion engine. my constituent was diagnosed with me in 2019 and, earlier this year, her employer agreed she was no longer able to work and do the job she loved. she applied for pip but the dwp has ruled she is fit to work and not engaged with her previous employer who can give a wealth of evidence to the contrary. her life has been devastated by the state diagnosis and said as a disabled person, she cannot stand up for herself so will the prime minister meet with me to ensure that there are benefits for the sufferers of chronic fatigue and does not link to single points of evidence?” chronic fatigue and does not link to single points of evidence? i am grateful for her question, she single points of evidence? i am gratefulfor her question, she is raising an important issue, i know that many suffer from the syndrome

she describes, i will ensure she gets proper read sensation and meeting with the relevant minister to discuss her objectives. anti—vax is some in the media only discussed levelling up through the prism of the north—south divide. cornwall has pockets of deprivation and many communities in my constituency is of north cornwall will also need in support and investments i welcome the levelling up investments i welcome the levelling upfund and investments i welcome the levelling up fund and the decision to review the green book so projects outside of london and the south—east are more likely to benefit from government investment. however, in light of the new spending commitments, can my right honourable friend confirm the shared prosperity fund are separate to the levelling up fund are separate to the levelling upfund and fund are separate to the levelling up fund and there will be an announcement on that soon and it will be simpler and less time consuming for small businesses to access consuming for small businesses to a ccess tha n consuming for small businesses to access than the owner of eu schemes they are replacing. yes, indeed, mr

speaker, i thank my honourable friend but is completely right about the importance of the new uk shared prosperity fund. it will be different from the levelling up fund and we are going to work closely with him and with people in cornwall to make sure that we use the additionalfunding best to make sure that we use the additional funding best to fund the needs of communities in cornwall. thank you, mr speaker the scottish government announced a £500 bonus scheme for health and social care is heroes who have cared to west for the pandemic. as opposed to the scottish conservatives have tried to claim credit over the last few hours. the prime minister is not responsible for health in scotland, but is responsible for it in england so well he put as governments money where his scottish colleague's mouths are and much that bonus initiative for health workers in england and will he instruct the chancellor that whenever a bonus scheme magnet is introduced, the will not try to take back the tax

from it and let it be paid tax free? well, on the last point of course, that's a matter for the scottish government which has the fiscal freedom to do that, but i found health and social care workers, in scotla nd health and social care workers, in scotland and across the whole country, and i'm proud of the increases we've been able to put in, 12.8% over the last three years, and a pay rise for! million people in the nhs as part of the biggest ever investment in the nhs, even before covid began, and it will continue under this government. in ten days' time, the government is hosting the un climate summit ahead of next year. i urge the prime minister not to curb your enthusiasm for the environment and will he show international leadership by setting

up international leadership by setting up an ambitious but achievable target for emissions in 2030 as the uk is target for emissions in 2030 as the ukisa target for emissions in 2030 as the uk is a national contribution on the path to net zero britain?” uk is a national contribution on the path to net zero britain? i am proud that the uk led the way in instituting a target of net zero by 2050, in all the nations developing, we were the first and we are looking at our national determined contribution which is extremely ambitious and will be published around the time of the climate summit on the 12th of december this year. final question. thank you, mr speaker. the prime minister mentioned the universal credit earlier. if the chancellors decision to increase it by £20 a week during the pandemic, an admission of what my constituents have known for yea rs, my constituents have known for years, the universal credit simply isn't enough to live on. injanuary, his government will cap the benefits

of thousands on universal credit, the average losses will be £250 a month, mainly to families of children. we already know it's not enough to live on. will he now committed to scrapping it and to continue the £20 per week uplift or as he going to throw these families to the boards just like 3 million excluded? i just to the boards just like 3 million excluded? ijust repeat the point i made earlier on about the huge sums the government has invested in looking after families and livelihoods across the whole of the uk, well north of £200 billion now, an uplift of universal credit of £1000, and we will continue to support families across this country throughout the pandemic, but the objective must be, as i hoped he would agree, to get the economy moving again and get people back into work in the way that i think everybody would want and it's a

fa ct, everybody would want and it's a fact, mr speaker, under this government, in spite of all the difficulties we have faced, the unemployment rate is lower in the uk thanit unemployment rate is lower in the uk than it is in france, spain, italy, canada and the usa. and we will continue to work to look after every job we can. in order to allow the state exit of members... we will leave prime minister's questions and a want to bring you from nicola sturgeon speaking during that and she said that the first people in scotland will get the vaccine next tuesday. we have not had that specific for england but in scotla nd had that specific for england but in scotland she sang the first vaccine will be administered next tuesday provided they get the supplies as expected. scotland is getting 320,000 doses and nicola sturgeon said the first vaccinated will be

those carrying out the vaccines. as you've been hearing there the uk become the first country in the world to approve the pfizer—biontech coronavirus vaccine — with around 800,000 doses of the jab being made available as early as next week. the vaccine offers up to 95% protection against coronavirus. 40 million doses have been pre—ordered by the government. drjune raine, chief executive of the medicines and healthcare products regulatory agency said no corners had been cut in the development of the pfizer—biontech vaccine, and that it was now safe to be rolled out. the recommendation has been reached following a scientific and thorough review of all the evidence of safety, effectiveness and of quality of the pfizer/biontech vaccine. the uk government has now accepted this advice and has made the decision to approve the vaccine for use with some conditions. in adults aged 16 and over.

the safety of the public will always come first. separate teams have been working in parallel to deliver the most rigorous review of this vaccine. no corners have been cut. our expert scientists and clinicians have worked round the clock, carefully, methodically poring over tables and analyses and grafts on every single piece of data. hundreds over 1,000 pages of data and absolutely critically analysing the preclinical evidence, the clinical trials, the manufacturing and quality controls and then down to the final sample. we have also reviewed and agreed the prescribing information so that the public and health care professionals are very clear and can be very confident that the vaccine is being used in the correct way, understanding what is involved. and going forward from today,

our national institute for biological standards and control will be independently laboratory tested so that every single vaccine that goes out meets the same high standards of safety and quality. 0ur health correspondent nick triggle is here. how is it that the uk has become the first to authorise the use? we have been talking about how it has been a vaccine has been developed very quickly and know the regulatory process has been done very fast. you can see the drugs regulator was at pains to stress that no corners have been cut and steps taken. the final trial results were only made available three weeks ago. pfizer submitted all their data only two weeks ago but he regulator was able to do this and a very rapid

timescale because they had been ready for the last sprint. they had been looking at the data in real—time so started working with the drugs company and trial organisers in the summer and had been monitoring what had been happening so it when the final data was presented to them the but end a very strong position to do the final checks and balances and approve it so the uk can start vaccinating any next weeks. we have held specifically from nicola sturgeon tuesday, nothing specific from westminster. what is clear at this point about khomeini doses of the vaccine are going to be distributed —— how many doses and who will be in the first tranche. we have 800,000 doses arriving within days so talk of the vaccination programme

starting next week makes sense. the nhs have been busy working behind the scenes to get ready, tortuga ready for december fast and it is a network of more than 1000 gp centres designated. we have vaccination hubs, conference centres and stadiums to do mass vaccinations but because we only have a limited supply initially next week. hospital hubs, about 50 starting to do some of that initial vaccinating and assuring that there is enough supply of the vaccine into the country is going to be a big hurdle in the coming weeks and months. 50 million people in the over 65 working and health care sectors, each need to doses so there is a big autistic or challenge getting all those vaccinated and that is why we are also waiting for the results of two more vaccines, one by the us firm

and by oxford, both before the regulator and if we hear of that soon regulator and if we hear of that soon it will help fast remote next year. even at everything goes smoothly when we are talking about the numbers at is going to be a process that will take some time. that is why ministers are often talking about life to start returning to some normality around easter, restrictions are starting to ease. the pfizer vaccination is an true doses of three weeks apart and then another week for full immunity to kick in. the pfizer vaccine has been brought in from belgium, we should have several million doses by the end of the year and 40 million by the spring. the oxford university vaccine, several million and already in the country manufactured to your so that gets the green light that will help, the third vaccine, the moderna we are not due to get any doses until the spring so it is

going to take some months for this to have an impact in terms of the distractions we are seeing. —— and the restrictions we are seeing. ben 0sborn is the uk country manager for pfizer, earlier he spoke to our medical editor fergus walsh and gave his reaction to the news. it's an incredible moment for society, and i really think this is now a turning point in the fight against this pandemic, both here in the uk and across the globe. i couldn't be prouder right now. and in terms of doses, give us an idea of how many doses you can get to the uk, where they're coming from and how soon we'll get them. we are working to supply 800,000 doses this week to the nhs and we're scaling up from from there. our intention is across the globe that this year we will provide up to 50 million doses and through 2021 will provide 1.3 billion

doses around the world. now, just give us an idea, because it has to be stored minus 70 to 80. so what sort of logistical problems does that present in getting it to the uk? yes, this is something actually we're very familiar with. cold chain transport is something that we've got a deep history of with with many vaccines. yes, it needs to be transported at minus 70. i think the point we need to really all be clear on is once it reaches the nhs and is ready for deployment, this vaccine can actually be stored in a normal refrigerator between two to eight degrees for five days. does it come in a special box when it's being delivered with dry ice. just paint a picture for me. if once it leaves the factory, what sort of what sort of container is it in and and what does that involve?

so the best way to think about this is the individual vials are packed into a tray, which essentially looks like a very flash pizza box. a number of these pizza boxes are then put into a thermal shipper, which is packed with dry ice, which maintains very carefully the temperature of the individual vaccines at minus 70 for ten days. and just give me a sense, when it comes in to the uk and then comes to the nhs, it obviously then has to be unpacked off those shippers and then packed in something the nhs has — does each time it's transferred from one cold chain to another. is there a limit for the number of times that can happen? so we're working under sort of very clear processes and regulations to to do that. 0urjob as pfizer is to provide it in line with the with the authorisation for the mhra into the deployment system for the nhs. they then pick it up from there.

now, in terms of then because people have said we won't be able to immunise people in care homes because it needs to be stored in in dry ice at minus 70. but can you just explain to us that, in fact, that it's not quite as complex as that? yeah, i think this is a really critical point, once the vaccine actually reaches the site of deployment, the vaccine can be stored under refrigerated conditions. so that's between two to eight degrees for up to five days. so that's a really important point. and that will allow many populations across the uk to benefit from this vaccine. we see the vials coming off your production line. how many doses are in each vial? yeah, in each vial there are five individual doses to be drawn up. i see, so you can have five people, one after another, on each

of those bottles, each obviously with their own fresh syringe, gets gets a bit of that. and how big is the dose? it's 30 micrograms? and essentially what you do is a very simple draw up of the of the dosage and then that's diluted and then essentially jabbed into the individual patients. how soon after they've had the first dose to people then have to have the second one? after the first dose it's 21 days later that they have the second dose of this vaccine. and when does the the full protection, when are you saying the full protection that it gives kicks in? so our study essentially was measured after seven days after the second dose. so from that point onwards, we were assessing the efficacy of this vaccine. some people will be asking, you don't know anything about this.

they'll be turning on their tvs and thinking, gosh, that was quick, that the mhra managed to come up with this. this approval is there. how would you answer the question that it might have all been done a bit quickly? so i'm going to make two points. the first is after the provision of clean water, vaccines are actually the single most effective public health intervention we can make. the second point very specific to this vaccine is the independence of the process over the last ten months. so the study was independently assessed. it wasn't assessed by pfizer and biotech. by pfizer and biontech. it was assessed by an independent panel. of course, we then looked at the data subsequently, but the efficacy and safety test was done by an independent panel. that data is then taken to an independent regulator

with very clear standards and expectations for safety, efficacy and our manufacturing control. and i think, thirdly, the really important point is we've also had our data assessed by thejbi who will be making recommendations to the uk government for which populations should be treated with our vaccine. we've preordered 40 million doses of this, enough for 20 million people. give us a sense of how soon you'll get most or all of those 40 million doses to the nhs. yes, 40 million doses that the government have bought essentially will be phased in line with their nhs deployment plan through 2020 and building up in 20 21. building up in 2021. this is a complex logistical process across the wider vaccination programme. so we are supplying in line with the government's expectations. we've had this pandemic.

the only way we knew we were going to ever going to get out of this with was through science. how does it feel to now be in a position with your company to be able to offer a vaccine that should see the beginning of the end of this pandemic. right from the very start we said science will win. we sit here today now, science is winning. and it's just an incredibly proud moment forfor us, not just here in the uk, but for scientists around the world. more on the vaccine coming up on the one o'clock news. "our planet is broken" — that's the warning the secretary general of the united nations will give later when he outlines that tackling global warming is now the central objective of the un. in a special bbc broadcast, antonio guterres also says "there is no vaccine for the planet". here's our chief environment

correspondent, justin rowlatt. 2020 has been a year of dramatic weather extremes. greenhouse gas concentrations are still rising in the atmosphere, despite the covid—19lockdowns, says the head of the united nations. in a speech to be broadcast later today exclusively on bbc news, un secretary—general antonio guterres, will say there is no vaccine for the planet. biodiversity is collapsing, deserts are spreading, oceans are choking with plastic waste, and apocalyptic fires and floods, cyclones and hurricanes are the new normal. terrible wildfires raged across australia, burning vast areas. and there were huge wildfires in california, and even arctic siberia. the un secretary—general says the world now faces a moment of truth.

every country, city, financial institution and company should adopt plans for transition to net zero emissions by 2050. and take decisive action now to put themselves on the right path. it is five years since the world came together in paris to agree, for the first time, that every nation needs to play a part in tackling climate change. some progress has been made, but not enough, according to the un secretary—general. mr guterres will say economic pressure should be used to help curb emissions. it is time that those who pollute the atmosphere with greenhouse gases pay a price for that pollution, he will say. he will urge countries to end all subsidies for fossil fuels, and will say that taxes should move from income to carbon. it is a bold agenda,

putting tackling climate change at the very heart of the united nations' role. but the science is clear. the secretary general will say unless the world reduces emissions, we face disaster. justin rowlatt, bbc news. and you can hear the speech from the un secretary general on our special programme ‘state of the planet‘ at eight thirty this evening here on the bbc news channel. antonio guterres will also be joined by climate activists from around the world, including sir david attenborough. simon mccoy is coming up with the bbc news at one. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with darren bett the weather below can feel very different over the next couple of days, getting colder already but feeling cold through the week, turning more unsettled which means wet weather, rain for many, sleet and snow more likely over the in the

north. because pushes end to the north—west of the uk now sweeping across the whole country tonight and into tomorrow. that is the straight for the bit, the complication is we end up with an area of more pressure bringing bands of wet weather, threatening snow and it is going to be difficult to get the detail exactly right. the cold here brings in the showers, continuing through this evening, the damp and drizzly weather cleared from the south—east and the showers in the north—west across northern ireland and scotland turning increasingly wintry. that for in icy conditions in scotland and northern ireland with a frost more likely here, not quite so cold across england and wales because the cloud increases later, wet weather into wales and the south—west and that will push enter much of england and wales through the day. eventually some snow over the welsh hills. brighten another angle, still some wintry showers but in scotland and northern ireland they tend to push away suffered many a cold and

crisp quite sunny day but temperatures are barely above freezing. highest across the south coast of england when wetter weather develops. that could arrive and to the south—east on thursday but at the south—east on thursday but at the same time later and the innate wet weather into scotland which is brings snow to many levels, could be heavy on the hose, gradually turning to rain across most places but we are stuck with wetter weather across northern england, the midlands and east anglia, some snow and sleet and snow levels, drier weather to wants parts of south wales and the south—west but another cold day and when the arrowed coastal areas as well. enter the weekend it gradually comes, still in the cold air but turning drier, winds dropping through the weekend, still patchy wet weather around and mostly rain on saturday, looks a lot drier on sunday, still only cold air and still a frost risk at night.

the uk becomes the first country in the world to approve the pfizer coronavirus vaccine. immunisation will start next week — the prime minister tells the house of commons the development is fantastic news. it is the protection of vaccines that will ultimately allow us to reclaim our lives. and get our economy moving again. the medicines regulator says checks have been thorough, no corners have been cut, as pfizer says shipping will happen very, very quickly. it‘s an incredible moment for society, and i really think this is now a turning point in the fight against this pandemic, both here in the uk and across the globe. i couldn‘t be prouder right now. we‘ll be asking, "who will get the vaccine first and how?" with our medical editor

and our health editor.