have some sleet and be unlikely to have some sleet and be unlikely to have some snow over the hell especially in the north. this is bbc news. i'm simon mccoy. the headlines — the uk becomes the first country in the world to approve the pfizer coronavirus vaccine, and immunisation will start next week. 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. 55 million go into the strictest tiers in england, as new restrictions replace the second national lockdown. hello, darling! when did we last

cuddle? february! at last — a hug for loved ones, as care homes prepare to give covid tests to visitors. after 266 long days, the return of fans to english league football is finally here, but the number of supporters is limited. good afternoon. "help is on its way" — the words used by the health secretary matt hancock, on the news that the uk has become the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine for widespread use. the firstjabs could be given within days for those who need it most, like nhs staff, care home workers, and residents. the uk has already ordered a0 million doses, enough to vaccinate 20 million people, with the first 800,000 arriving in the coming days.

95% effective, the pfizer biontech vaccine is the fastest ever to go from concept to reality, taking only ten months to follow the same steps that normally span a decade. the medicine regulator says no corners have been cut. now, the country prepares for one of the biggest civilian projects in history. our health correspondent jim reed reports. another crucial hurdle cleared, as the world tries to get back to normal. this time next week, these vaccines, made by the drugs companies biontech and pfizer will be available to people in this country. it comes after the medicines regulator gave the green light for the jab to be rolled out nationwide. the vaccine will begin to be made available across the uk from next week. i would like to pay tribute to and to thank all 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.

the uk regulator, the mhra, says the pfizerjab, which offers up to 95% protection against the covid—19 illness, is now safe to begin a full roll—out after giving emergency approval. it is 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. it is the fastest ever vaccine to go from concept to reality, taking only ten months to follow the same scientific steps that normally take a decade. 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 graphs, on every single piece of data. ministers say 800,000 doses of this vaccine will be available from next week, with millions more before the end of the year.

it will need two injections, three weeks apart. a panel of government advisers has set out who gets it first, based on clinical need. this morning, they published their final recommendations. they said around a million older care home residents and staff should be first in line, followed by over—80s, and other health and social workers. and other health and social care workers. this is phase one of the programme. in phase one, we hope that 90—99% of people who are at risk of dying from covid—i9 will be included or covered. most of the pfizer vaccine available in this country will be manufactured at this huge factory in central belgium. but this particularjab uses a new type of technology, meaning it has to be stored at —70 celsius, far colder than a standard fridge freezer. it will need to be shipped to the uk in special crates,

or packed in dry ice, before being thawed out for the last stage of its journey. in reality, that means it could be hospital patients, along with nhs and care staff, who receive the vaccine first. the government says the vaccine will be available in three main ways — through a chain of special mass vaccination centres set up at sports grounds and community centres, through hospitals, including the nightingale hospitals, and through community services, like gps and pharmacists. anyone in a priority group should now wait to be contacted by the nhs for an appointment. we definitely need a vaccine. i can understand people's concerns about it being rushed through. but that is what the trials are there for. i mean, there is a collaborative worldwide effort in producing all these vaccines, so somebody has to be first. the pfizer/biontech vaccine approved today was the first of three

differentjabs that could be given the green light soon. altogether, the government has ordered 357 million doses from seven different manufacturers. i am just so, so pleased that, you know, 2020 has beenjust awful, and 2021 is going to be better, and help is on its way. this is more positive news, then, as the shops reopen, after the lockdown in england, but it is likely to be many months before any vaccination programme can really have an effect on this outbreak, so the message from both politicians and the scientists is stick to the rules this winter, in the hope we can start to get back to normal in the spring. jim reed, bbc news. our health editor hugh pym told me what happens next, now the vaccine has been approved. we are getting to the point in the spring where ministers have said some sort of return to normality may be possible, and for people to look forward to that, it's going to involve a massive effort to roll out

this vaccine across the vulnerable groups, and then into other adult age groups, but the key thing is it sta rts age groups, but the key thing is it starts for real next week, in hospitals, in different parts of the uk. the priority list given by the vaccine experts has care home residents and staff at the top, followed by health and care workers, followed by health and care workers, followed by health and care workers, followed by the over 805, but they've allowed a little sense of, if you like, latitude for the government to say, in practical terms, getting this vaccine is 5tored terms, getting this vaccine is stored in hospitals and administered there, given the temperature i55ues that we've been hearing about, that i5 that we've been hearing about, that is the best way to do it. so nhs staff will be the first people to have the jabs and possibly care home workers going into hospitals. i understand ministers are working very ha rd to understand ministers are working very hard to think about how this can be got into care homes, but there are logistical issues around that. it has to be said, though, this is a very big ask for the nhs, just when it is dealing with

covid—i9 and the onset of the flu season covid—i9 and the onset of the flu season at some stage fairly soon, and all the normal winter pressures. soi and all the normal winter pressures. so i think it is going to take a lot of work. and then of course there is the wider community roll—out, gp hubs, big vaccination centres in communities, and that may well need the other vaccine, the oxford astrazeneca vaccine, which are still going through the approval process. our medical editor, fergus walsh explained the significance of the today's vaccine approval. i think this marks the beginning of the end of the pandemic being in sight. now, that's months and months away, but science has found the answer, it's found as the exit strategy, and if you had asked me backin strategy, and if you had asked me back in april whether we would have a vaccine by december approved, i would have said pretty unlikely. so it is extraordinary. this is the first so—called rna vaccine that has

been approved. it uses a tiny fragment of genetic material from the spike protein to stimulate an immune response and get cells to produce this tiny protein that is found in the virus, and it's 95% effective after two doses across all age groups. now, we don't know how long that protection lasts, and we don't know whether it also stops people passing on the virus, but it's extraordinarily good news. it's a great day for science and humanity. let's speak now to professor david salisbury, who is the former director of immunisation at the department of health, and now associate fellow of the global health programme at chatham house. let's just mark today, a day to remember in a year we will really wa nt to remember in a year we will really want to forget. yeah, it's a really great day. this news about the vexing ‘s efficacy, its safety, and all of the data has been scrutinised

by the nhra fills us with great optimism. —— by the mhra. by the nhra fills us with great optimism. -- by the mhra. there is a huge logistical task now, though, isn't there? yes, there is. we have the priority order, but actually i think there will be some juggling of that, which there must be to match supply against the demand. the most important piece now is knowing how many doses are going to be coming into the country to be distributed pretty much every day, because we can talk about the ideal priority ranking, but it's really practicality that's going to drive this. who can we get the vaccine too as quickly and safely as possible, so as quickly and safely as possible, so that we can protect them, utilising the supplies that we have? remember that, after three weeks of

vaccinating, we need twice the amount of vaccine. the first three weeks will be people having their first doses. from then on, we will have people who have their first doses and they are new people to recruit in, so three weeks hence, we need twice as much vaccine. as long as that's planned for, we will be successful. with fingers crossed obviously and given what has happened in recent weeks, the expectation will be that the other vaccines that have yet to be approved will be approved, and then we have a greater choice. then there is that difficult decision as to which one to go for, for whom. yes, i think that is going to be really, really difficult. it would be much easier if we knew that all of these vaccines were identical, it would be much easier if we knew that they did indeed stop transmission from a vaccinated person, but! indeed stop transmission from a vaccinated person, but i think it will be a tough call, when you've

got vaccines at 90, 90 5% efficacy, and a vaccine at 60% efficacy is to quite what you do with these different vaccines, and for whom. for the people in risk groups, you really wa nt for the people in risk groups, you really want to protect them with the most efficacious vaccine. in your former role of course, the problem eve ryo ne former role of course, the problem everyone faces is persuading people, this is voluntary after all, that these vaccinations are safe and save lives. i think it depends on people's perceptions of risk. we had no trouble at all persuading people to have vaccines against meningitis, andi to have vaccines against meningitis, and i hope they will make a similar judgment now. they willjudge that the risk of this disease to themselves, and indeed to everyone around them, is very, very considerable. you cannot trivialise the risk of this disease, and this vaccine has gone through the same rigorous checks and balances by the

regulator that they would apply to any vaccine. there have been no short cut. that is not a difficult choice. as a former director of immunisation, to something that must have crossed your mind but we are about to embark on the biggest roll—out of something we have ever seen. yes, it is a huge logistic exercise but it is logistics. this is not hugely technically challenging, apart from the cold chain requirements. it is matching numbers of doses, numbers of people to administer the doses, and matching people to be vaccinated. but those three together and we will have a success story. we do something like this every year with seasonal flu vaccination. the scale is not as great but the risk groups

are by and large the same, so this is not something we've never done pa rt is not something we've never done part of before. what we haven't done before is to vaccinate all of those healthy people in as short a time period as possible. professorjohn edmunds is from the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine and a member of sage, the scientific advisory group for emergencies. hejoins me now. we come into the difficulties at the moment, but this is a good day. we come into the difficulties at the moment, but this is a good daym is amazing, it is really an amazing day. this vaccine is phenomenally effective. if you look at the results in the trial. it is an incredible achievement to get this vaccine from the drawing board all the way through to approval in a few months. it's amazing. the difficulty in the coming weeks before people have access to this vaccine is one,

i guess, of complacency. we still have a huge problem, haven't we? we do. roughly one in 100 of us in this country are currently infectious with the virus, so that's coming down, thankfully, that's great news, but it's still a high level of infection in the community, so we have to bring those cases write down, and yes, we are going to start vaccinating very shortly, in a week 01’ vaccinating very shortly, in a week orso, vaccinating very shortly, in a week or so, but that's only going to be limited numbers of people. there is 60 million of us or more in this country, and so there is huge numbers of people that need to be vaccinated eventually, so it will ta ke vaccinated eventually, so it will take a very long time to protect everyone, and in the meantime we've still got a pandemic on our hands. the difficulty throughout this has been that balance, hasn't it, the damage to health and the damage to wealth, and at some point restrictions will be eased, but that decision is going to be a difficult one, isn't it? yes, it will be a

very difficult one. we will have to see how things go now over the next few months, as we start to vaccinate people, but yes, it will be a very difficult one. i think probably the summary is, i don't think we're going to lift restrictions when we start to vaccinate, that would be very, very foolish indeed, because the vast majority of us will not be vaccinated initially, and the vast majority of us remain susceptible. we will be lifting restrictions as we finish vaccinating. that's a more realistic way to think about it. we finish vaccinating. that's a more realistic way to think about itm is remarkable, the speed at which we are now talking, in terms of a vaccine that will be introduced shortly when let's face it, none of us shortly when let's face it, none of us had heard of covid—19 injanuary. some of us had injanuary, but yes, it is amazing, yeah. and what do you think about the approach that has

got us here? there was praise for scientists, we have just got us here? there was praise for scientists, we havejust been hearing that in the house of commons, who else can slap themselves on the back for this? governments have invested very heavily. i think this government but also governments around the world have invested in taking some of the risk of the companies. the reason why the companies have been able to do it so fast, and they haven't cut corners, is that they have done things more or less in parallel, when normally they would do them in cereal. so they would do a phase one trial, look at the results very carefully, they would wonder whether this vaccine might be worth risking ina this vaccine might be worth risking in a phase two and later stage developments, so these trials are incredibly expensive, they are very, very difficult, expensive things to do, and so they have to do sort of make a decision on the basis of the results that they've got, the early results, whether they take this thing forward. now, what they have

effectively done is done these things anyway, because governments have helped them out and taken some of the risk of them and said, look, it is ok, we will guarantee to buy this vaccine anyway, even if it doesn't work, and so it has taken the risk of the company, so they have been able to do their trials in parallel. so i think the government, this government, but also other governance around the world and other organisations like seppi have done a fantasticjob both in investing in some of these technologies in the past, but it wasn't as if this technology wasn't known about, before ten months ago, it was, but organisations like the uk government and others have invested in this sort of technology in preparation for this sort of event. so when the event happened, it could go relatively quickly and this additional investment governments have made have taken the

risk of companies to allow them to develop it as fast as they can. the two questions that seem to be coming to us at the bbc as one, when can i get it, and the other one is is it safe ? get it, and the other one is is it safe? what do you say to those people who do have reservations about any vaccine? there is some risk associated with any drug or vaccine, of course there is. this vaccine, of course there is. this vaccine has been tested on over 40,000 people were no serious adverse events have been uncovered, even though in such a large trial, and there's good reasons to think that a sort of mrna vaccine would not have serious events, because ourselves are producing mrna all the time and it deteriorates very fast in ourselves, so in some sense it is a very natural thing, and so you wouldn't expect the mrna, you would

expect it to break down very rapidly, so i think it is an amazing achievement. it may well revolutionise how we vaccinate, going into the future. we will of course monitor very, very, very carefully the safety of this vaccine as it is being used. there are a large number of different ways of doing that, and plans are in place, well developed and ready to go in order to evaluate the safety as we 90, order to evaluate the safety as we go, as we vaccinate, and phe and mhra are real leading experts, global experts in doing those sorts of safety and efficacy studies, and thatis of safety and efficacy studies, and that is going to roll out as soon as the vaccine starts to be used. and if you look at the detail of the licensure, it is an emergency use authorisation, so it can be withdrawn if any significant safety

signals come. but i wouldn't expect that to be the case, i really wouldn't. professorjohn edmonds, thank you very much forjoining us. and later this afternoon we'll answer your questions on the approval of the pfizer and biontech coronavirus vaccine. you can send questions on twitter, using the hashtag bbc your questions or by email on yourquestions@bbc.co.uk. that's coming up at 15:30 this afternoon here on bbc news. and we'll also have a special programme covering the downing street press conference — led by the prime minister — this afternoon at 4:30pm on bbc one and the bbc news channel. england has returned to a three—tiered system of coronavirus restrictions, after the second national lockdown ended at midnight. the tougher new system came into force, hours after being approved by mp5 in a commons vote. more than 55 million people find themselves in the strictest two tiers. in tier 1, which currently only applies to cornwall, the isles of scilly and the isle of wight, up to six people can meet, indoors or outdoors, and pubs and restaurants can re—open. tier 2 covers more

than 32 million people. people there are not allowed to mix with anyone indoors, unless in a support bubble. the rule of six applies outdoors. pubs and restaurants can re—open, but alcohol can only be served with a substantial meal. more than 23 million people living in large parts of the midlands, north east and north west, as well as kent, are now in the strictest tier, tier 3. this means no mixing with other households, indoors or outdoors, and hospitality venues will stay closed, except for takeaway. let's get more on this, and speak to behavioural psychologist jo hemmings. and jo, given the euphoria of today's announcement, the risk is that complacency sets in and people forget about these restrictions. yes, there is that risk. i mean, look, it is important to know whatever tiers you are in, whether

you agree with it or not, there are certain freedoms with tier 2 and tier 3 that we didn't have any lockdown, i would say take advantage of those. don't get complacent. 0bviously of those. don't get complacent. obviously we have christmas coming up obviously we have christmas coming up as well where there will be a certain amount of freedom for us all, and again, no one will have had both vaccines, which have to be three weeks apart, by christmas, we have to be very aware of that, and also we know that a third of people show no symptoms whatsoever, so again taking any further risk than we need to at this precise moment, in spite of this extraordinary, brilliant news would be, yeah, very foolish indeed. we are all relying now on human behaviour, if you like, some as we have seen will be careful, others want to push it to the limit. yes, they do, and a lot of this is about trust, belief in the government, there are people who

believe perhaps it hasn't been handled as well as it should be, there are people that feel their freedom is very important, they don't like any restrictions put upon them. i think the only way you can get increased compliancy, i think actually the news about this vaccine will make people adhere more to the rules, because not only have a light at the end of the eternal, we really can see this light now, so in a way we see a reward, if you like, in the not—too—distant future we see a reward, if you like, in the not—too—dista nt future for adhering to restrictions, so i hope that people will bear that in mind that there is not that much longer that they have to feel compromised on their freedoms. many people will be feeling they just want to lurch their freedoms. many people will be feeling theyjust want to lurch to christmas and how would you advise them of the best way to do that without putting others at risk?|j think without putting others at risk?” think it's really important we don't get too complacent at christmas. you need to look very carefully at those who you are may be going to visit all those who are coming to you, we

need to be so careful with those who are vulnerable. i think sometimes people explain —— struggle to explain why they don't want to go somewhere, where they don't want someone round their table and i think it is very important to be firm but fair. we have been given this sort of relative freedom over christmas, we've got to use it wisely. if your family is in any sort of dispute, take a consensus amongst you all, but please, please try and be as safe as possible over this period because we are not out of the woods yet, and it is really important that we again, you know, this is where i think complacency might come into play more that we might come into play more that we might not be in this position because there will be nobody who will have been vaccinated twice by the time christmas comes around. note about the timing of this, so many people will have had no contact with friends or family for so long, they may find that quite difficult to face the idea of having to

re—socialise, if you like? to face the idea of having to re-socialise, if you like? yes, it is very difficult, people have got used to in some cases to being in isolation. i think the thing to do isolation. i think the thing to do is to always be reaching out, sharing how you are feeling, keeping connected, whether that's by zoom or on the phone, or going outside and meeting people for a walk. it's really important to sustain some sort of connection, and then build it out as we are allowed to relative freedoms as the new year begins, as the vaccination programme starts being rolled out properly, start getting used to what it feels like to connect and socialise once again. jo, to connect and socialise once again. jo, good to talk to you, jo hemmings, thanks for joining jo, good to talk to you, jo hemmings, thanks forjoining us. 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. yes, simon, whata yes, simon, what a week it has been for the high street. as you said, we saw debenhams go into liquidation, arcadia go into administration, and today we have heard bon marchais, a popular woman's store has also gone into administration —— bon marche, putting 1500 jobs at risk. we understand the stores will continue trading as other options are explored for example, they may find another buyer who wants to take on the chain. in other business news, we have heard tesco has decided it is going to repay its business rate relief. you may remember at the beginning of the pandemic the government paid some people's business rate. that is the tax paid

on commercial properties, so properties on the high street, shops, estate agents etc all have to play that. the government paid it to help them get through those difficult days. tesco has now said it will pay back that almost £600 million after it received criticism that it was paying dividends to its shareholders while it was taking government money. now, to talk about all of this, i am joined by kristin davies. she is the director of shopper centric, the research into tree —— looks at shoppers and their decisions. let's start off with the news about bonmarche, what a week for the high street. what challenges lie ahead for retailers? huge challenges, and some very big news today. i think one of the big things is we have all been forced in a way to move online, so one of the biggest challenges is going to be pulling people back to high streets as we know. but the reality is

people have been starved of some of that contact, that interaction with products, so there will be occasions for the stores to encourage people back to stores and i think there is some demand as well. people can make decisions quite easily when they are ina decisions quite easily when they are in a store because they can use all their senses. when they are online, of course there are some absolute benefits, like ease and being able to view things all at the same time but there are some benefits on both those channels, and working together really build a strong picture i think for the future. we know that online sales have gone through the roof throughout this pandemic, people at home sitting on their sofas, ordering things. how important is it for retailers to really look at investing into their online operation, because when we look at the businesses that have gone bust in recent hours and days, a lot of it is down to not keeping up a lot of it is down to not keeping up with the times, not investing in their online operation. there is an expectation for online, and we see it in the younger generation of the shoppers coming through, i think it is no surprise that they are going

online almost automatically, if nothing else, just to scope what is out there in the marketplace. so not having a presence online can eliminate some stores right from the outset, so it's really important i think going forward to have that. plus, we have been almost advanced or accelerated with the lockdowns to think about online is the first port of call. so going forward, getting more comfortable with online. we are still enjoying going into the stores but online is going to be a really big part of how we make our total decisions. and that kind of moves us on nicely to consumer confidence. at the moment people we have been speaking to today are still nervous about going out. they have ventured out today but this is supposed to be the biggest high street in europe. it is busy but it is nowhere near what it would be in normal times, just before christmas. do you think people will continue to evolve their habits? i think habits will evolve, but at the end of the day, we are human. what that means is we have had occasions for shopping on the high

street taken occasions for shopping on the high street ta ken away occasions for shopping on the high street taken away from us, essentially, because we were forced into lockdown for lots of good reasons. those occasions will return. we need to get back to our lives, as they used to be. of course, they will be different to how they were. but he will open up our lives again, they create shopping occasions, and they make us look forward to moment in time we are thinking ahead and planning for those shopping moments. i have no doubt that that will return. as you say, evolved somewhat, because we will use both channels, online and in—store. will use both channels, online and in-store. like i said, silent, it is busy here. there are lots of people out and about. we haven't seen queues outside shops. in other parts of the country like in birmingham, we saw the queue outside prime arc this morning. we were at prime arc earlier today, but we were told that people came out very early to try to avoid what they anticipated would happen. they thought it would be lots of lines, but so far we haven't seen anything like that here.

the weather has been turning colder today in north—western pa rt part of the uk. and that cold air has been bringing in showers. we do have cloud and patchy rain to clear in south—eastern parts of this evening. here, we will have some icy conditions with a frost more likely. maybe not quite as cold for england and wales, later the club will be thickening and getting wet weather into wales and the south—west. that will spill its way over to must delete or most of england and rain over hills of wales. it may be brighter with wintry showers. the wintry showers in scotland and northern ireland tend to get pushed away. for many, it will turn dry and sunny but will be a colder day with temperatures just above freezing. the highest temperatures on the south coast living room. for all of us south coast living room. for all of us for the rest of the week, to be rain and sleet and we are likely to

have snow over the hills, especially in the north. hello, this is bbc news with simon mccoy. the headlines... the uk becomes the first country in the world to approve the pfizer coronavirus vaccine, and immunisation will start next week. 55 million go into the strictest tiers in england, as new restrictions replace the second national lockdown. at last, a hug for loved ones, as care homes prepare to give covid tests to visitors. when did we last cuddle? february. sport now. and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here's sarah. good afternoon. some fans are getting ready

to return to sporting events today, as the lockdown in england is being replaced by the tier system. a handful of spectators will be welcomed to some football league matches this evening, while four race meetings will also have a limited number of fans during the day. wayne mumford is the commercial director at charlton athletic, and he's been telling us about the task of getting fans back into their football stadium. we have a big problem, the fact is a lot of our fans are from kent. so they are tier 3, so we had to tell them first that, sorry you can't come. then it is about which of our fa ns come. then it is about which of our fans can come. we told anybody about 70 if they wanted to opt out or in, so that was a challenge. we then went through all of that process. we then did a ballot of season—ticket holders. fans were disappointed again there. we have to thousand fa ns again there. we have to thousand fans coming tonight, it is about getting the journey and getting them here safely, seated safely,

listening to the covid rules and enjoying the game. british driver george russell said he was unbelievably grateful to williams and mercedes, after being confirmed as lewis hamilton's replacement at this weekend's sakhir grand prix. hamilton was ruled out after testing positive for covid—19. russell is with the williams team, but mercedes have guided his career since 2017, and williams have agreed to release him. he said, "nobody can replace lewis, but i'll give my all for the team in his absence from the moment i step in the car". and that's extremely good news for another englishman, jack aitken, who'll take russell's place in bahrain. he said, "i can't believe this, but i will make my f1 debut with @williamsracing this weekend." next season, mick schumacher, son of the seven—time world champion michael schumacher, will make his f1 debut. he says it's "a dream i have been chasing since i was three years old" after being confirmed as a driver with the haas team. he'll line up in melbourne in march,

30 years after his father was given his debut. the german, who's 21, could wrap up the formula two championship in bahrain this weekend. romain grosjean welcomed mick schumacher to f1 this morning and showed off a picture of one of his hands, burnt when he crashed at the bahrain grand prix last weekend. he was released from hospital today, and he said he almost cried when he was told he didn't need the full dressing any more and he could actually use his fingers. "a victory on my way to recovery," he called it. 1,000 boxing fans will be allowed into wembley arena for anthony joshua's heavyweight title defence against kubrat pulev this month. local authorities have given the go—ahead, with london falling into tier 2 of the latest covid—19 restrictions. there will be strict safety measures in place for the fight, which is a week on saturday, when joshua's four titles will be on the line. he hasn't fought on home soilfor over two years,

and tickets will be priced at between £100 and £1,000. world heavyweight boxing champion tyson fury has called for the bbc to take him off this year's sports personality of the year award shortlist. he's been nominated alongside england cricketer stuart broad, record—breaking jockey hollie doyle, formula 1 world champion lewis hamilton, liverpool and england footballer jordan henderson, and snooker world champion ronnie 0'sullivan. he posted this video on his social media accounts earlier. this is tyson fury, and this is a message for the bbc. please take me off your list as i am at the people's champion and have no need for verification or any awards. i never rely on what i have done in sports. the love of the people is worth more to me than all of the awards in the world. so, to all of my supporters, please don't vote on this. take me off the list. all of

my love, tyson fury the gypsy king. england's andy sullivan got off to a great start at golf‘s dubai championship — carding an 11 under par opening round of 61. and he threathend to break 60 forjust the second time in european tour history. sullivan needed to birdie his final two holes to do so — this long—range attempt agonisingly close on his second to last hole. he settled for a two—shot lead over a group of three that includes compatriots matt wallace and ross fisher. that's all the sport for now. i will see you again in the next hour. britain has become the first country in the world to approve the widespread use of a vaccine for coronavirus, paving the way for a mass immunisation programme to begin next week. the jab, made by pfizer and biontech, has been developed at unprecedented speed — taking only ten months to complete. ben 05born is the uk country manager for pfizer, and he's been speaking to our medical editor fergus walsh. it is 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 are coming from and how soon we will get them. we are working to supply 800,000 doses this week to the nhs. and we are scaling up from there. our intention is, across the globe, that this year we will provide up to 50 million doses. and through 2021, we will provide 1.3 billion doses around the world. now, just give us an idea, because it has to be stored at —70 to —80, so what sort of logistical problems does that present in getting it to the uk? yeah, so this is something that we are very familiar with. cold chain transport is something

that we have got a deep history of with many vaccines. yes, it needs to be transported at —70, i think the point we all need to really 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 2 and 8 degrees for five days. does it come in a special box when it is being delivered with dry ice? just paint a picture for me of once it leaves the factory, what sort of container is it in and what does that involve? 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 —70 for ten days.

and just give me a sense, when it comes into the uk and comes to the nhs, it obviously then has to be unpacked off those shippers and then packed into something the nhs has. does each time it is transferred from one cold chain to another, is there a limit for the number of times that can happen? we are working under very clear processes and regulations to do that. 0urjob as pfizer is to provide it in line 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 dry ice at —70, but can you just explain to us that in fact it is not quite as complex as that?

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 is between 2—8 degrees, for up to five days. so that is a really important point. and that will allow many populations across the uk to benefit from this vaccine. nicola sturgeon has said that people in scotland will start to receive a covid—19 vaccine from next week. she made the announcement at today's daily briefing in edinburgh. i want to very warmly and very enthusiastically welcome this morning's news that the vaccine developed by pfizer and biontech has been authorised for supply in the uk by the medicines and health care regulatory authority. this is not unexpected, but nevertheless, because it confirms that a safe and effective vaccine can now be used, it is without a shadow of a doubt

the best news we have heard since this pandemic started all of these months ago. today is genuinely a good day. we are not at the end of this pandemic yet, and of course, this is a point i will come back to later, we cannot and we must not ease up in our efforts to control it. but today doesn't feel like it may well be the beginning of the end of this horrible experience. for that reason, i am sure i am far from the only one this morning who feels a lightness of heart that i haven't felt in quite some time. now, in terms of the detail, we expect vaccines to be delivered over the course of december, and we expect that that will happen within the next few days or start to happen within the next few days. and if we receive the first doses of the vaccine as soon as we are expecting to, and there is no reason at this stage to doubt that, i can confirm to you that the first vaccines against covid will be administered in scotland on tuesday

the 8th of december. that is just six days from now. i am going to say that again. the first vaccines against covid will be administered in scotland on tuesday the 8th of december. you can perhaps understand why i have probably smiled more in the last few minutes than you have seen me do in several months. it is of course worth remembering that everyone will require two doses of the vaccine, and that these are likely to be offered 21—28 days apart. so it is likely that it will take until very early in the new year to complete the first vaccine courses for any individual. but there is no doubt that being able to have this degree of confidence that we can start a vaccination programme next week is absolutely fantastic news. and in cardiff, dr gillian richardson, co—chair of the covid—19 vaccine programme board, explained how the vaccine would be rolled out in wales. this morning, we had the really welcome news

that the first of these vaccines, the pfizer/biontech vaccine, has been approved for use in the uk. this is a significant step forward in response to the pandemic. for the first time, we have an opportunity to prevent this terrible illness. a glimmer of light at the end of what has been a very difficult and long year. we hope that mhra approval for a second vaccine will follow later this month, giving even more opportunities. we are ready to start vaccinating as soon as we receive the first supply of vaccine in wales and have safely deployed it to the nhs. we are working closely with all uk nations. we have tested our plans, and these are not without challenges as the pfizer vaccine must be stored at ultralow temperatures. we are training health care staff to give people this vaccine and are finalising

the legal frameworks so the vaccine can be given to the people of wales. the uk government has ordered tens of millions of doses of both the pfizer/biontech vaccine and the oxford/astrazeneca vaccines. and wales will receive its population share. the vaccines will require two doses to be effective. we will be vaccinating people who are most at risk of catching coronavirus and developing serious illnesses, based on recommendations at the uk level from thejcvi and as the characteristics of each vaccine allow us. the first groups to be offered the vaccine will be front line nhs and social care workers, people aged over 80, and those who live or work in care homes. people will be invited to come along to have the vaccine at special clinics, while the normal nhs services continue to see people. so you will be called to the vaccine if it is your turn.

this vaccine is the best way to protect people, but no one will be forced to have it. however, i would encourage you, when you are called, to accept this offer, which will save lives and protect the nhs and eventually help us to resume to normal life. so, the first immunisations are expected to be administered here in the uk from next week. in a moment, we'll be speaking to a community pharmacist about her likely role in that task. but first, let's listen to england's deputy chief medical officer's comments last month in which professor van tam said the priority would be to target those at high risk of infection. my my mum is 78, she will be 79 shortly. and i have already said to her, "mum, make sure when you are called, you are ready. be ready to ta ke called, you are ready. be ready to take this up, this is really important for you because of your age. and itjust be ready to be called."

let's speak to thorrun govind — a community pharmacist in manchester. what are the biggest difficulties? presumably, it will be a temperature issue, given that this needs storing at -70 issue, given that this needs storing at —70 degrees? we have a huge role to play in delivering the vaccines, but we have already shown how it can be managed with the deployment of flu vaccines, which as you know, many patients go and visit their pharmacies or their gps every year. have a real role to play in a reassuring patients about this, and really supporting the public with their confidence in this. the real key point is let's get the information out fair. and we are clinically trained and have skilled staff to provide this service. general practices and pharmacies together are going to be collaborating, working really hard to make sure that we can get vaccines to everybody. 0bvious, it is going to be a roll—out, and we are going to learn from each day of

the roll—out. so we are looking forward to getting stuck in and supporting our local communities and the national effort. for a lot of people, the pharmacist is the first point of contact when they are considering going to get a job for anything. how will you, not persuade, but how would you answer that question is if they say, "look, is it safe?" as part of our role with all medicines, we have to focus on providing the information to our patients. we obviously care about informed consent, so we provide the information on the risks and benefits to the patient. and we help them make their own decision about whether they would like to have a medicine or a vaccine. what is really important about this is that we also find out about the things that are really key to that individual patient, we find out what their barriers may be, as we talk to them about this. nobody is being forced to have a vaccine, just like nobody forces you to take your medication. it really is a real conversation, and we aim to provide

as much information as possible. can igo as much information as possible. can i go back to that point about the storage of this? it will be important for this particular vaccine, there may be others in the future, but at the moment, this one needs very, very low temperatures. absolutely, that is exactly why we are going to be collaborating with general practice, and that is why they will be local sites and mass vaccination sites, initially, because of this storage requirement. but the pfizer one is obviously the one that has been approved at the moment. we are looking forward to the other front runners being approved as well, the oxford vaccine, that is just a normal fridge temperature, which we are well used to dealing with. as we move down that chain of those who are going to be vaccinated first, i think it will become logistically easier. and i know that we are able to do this. thank you so much for yourtime, so to do this. thank you so much for your time, so good to talk to you. as we've been hearing, england has returned to a three—tiered system of coronavirus restrictions after the second national lockdown ended at midnight. in the strictest tier,

hospitality venues will stay closed except for takeaways and mixing with other households is banned. let's get more on this and speak to simon thomas, chief executive of the hippodrome casino in london's leicester square. that is in tier 2, which means households are not allowed to mix indoors. how much change is there now that the national lockdown has actually gone? it is clearly a massive change, because we are open. and we are delighted to be open. we have customers coming back after 500 odd staff, they are happy to be employed again. we are frankly sick of all of these restrictions and lockdowns, the tiering system, and we are looking forward to getting back to a normal world. but it is an important step today. tier 2, though, there are restrictions, how does that affect how you do your business? the main restriction on tier 2 for us is no household mixing indoors, which people respect pretty

well, and we have to serve a substantial meal in our bars with alcohol. we are struggling to work out what that is. there is an awful lot of novel interpretations of it that we have seen already. but we are being pretty good. but customers are being pretty good. but customers are happy, they are wanting to come back and wanting to play. poker ta bles back and wanting to play. poker tables are all already, the roulette wheels are spinning, card tables are going, we have shows with stars of the west end who actually want some stage time. to the west end is up and running again and going the right way. but is it? because what about social distancing and masks and issues like that? that is no problem for us. we have been living with it for the last few months. we actually had professor van tam come to the casinos one day to look at our precautions. we have perspex screens between the different gaming positions in our electronic terminals are spaced out, you can

only come with your own family dining. the inconvenience of mask wearing, i hate them to be honest, i think they will go fairly quickly. but it is what we have to deal with at the moment. we can deal with it well and deliver a great experience. what about the risk of complacency, given that we are now seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, there is this vaccine? but there is a very difficult period up until then which we have just got to get through. there is certainly that risk, which is why we'll keep our standards high. we very good at what we do, and that goes for a lot of the hospitality businesses. i think the hospitality businesses. i think the hospitality businesses have been totally unfairly made the fall guy. the government realised they couldn't shut schools, workplaces or homes, which are the places where most transmission happens, and so they picked on hospitality, it is a shame. it is a bit harsh to say they picked on you. they have to put people's lives first, haven't they? absolutely, but they have also by

putting people's lives first, they need a balance. it is notjust covid, they need to take into account all of the other effects, the collateral damage from covid. i think the nhs has done a superbjob, they have learned how to deal with it. the issues are far less than was originally the case. and at the other side of it, certainly with hospitality, our industry has been decimated. we have had lots of staff laid off across the industry. the costs of that, the mental health of people, the mist operations, all of that sort of stuff that we know about is going to haunt this country for years. and i think the balance is off at the moment. but we are going the right way. simon thomas, thank you so much for your time. care home residents are being told that they will be

able to have visitors again. more than a million rapid lateral flow coronavirus tests have been sent out to care homes in england with the aim that residents will be able to see two loved ones twice a week. a damian grammaticas reports. has been waiting for this for months but it is exciting, a really positive move and a step forward. inside the care home, herfather waiting. they have seen each other through the pandemic but only at a distance. it is going to be heaven, because we have set out in the garden with pouring rain, we have sat out with lovely sunshine. but today you see, they can come and see me in my room, which is like old times. this is a pilot scheme in winchester, now to be rolled out nationally. hello, darling! when did we last cuddle? it is just so

natural and are so spontaneous to be able to hug as we always have done. it isjust able to hug as we always have done. it is just amazing, able to hug as we always have done. it isjust amazing, it is so good. it isjust amazing, it is so good. it makes a real difference that human contact will stop it feels like a step back towards normality. whatever tier of covert restrictions you have been living under, it means visits with physical contact will now be possible. 1 million test kits are being sent to the largest care homes. they will decide how many relatives each resident can see and how often. reading that it will be a designated person, a relative, who will be able to get that test done at the care home. if it is negative, with all the full ppe and the prevention as well that we normally have, they can then go into the care home and see their relative, which isa home and see their relative, which is a huge benefit, it really is. in winchester, they are already noticing what difference the renewal ofafamily noticing what difference the renewal of a family visit is making.

everyone was at a very low point, so they have no routine, some of them won't even getting up and getting dressed for the day, because what was the point? where is now everybody‘s up and excited, they are having their hair done, excited for christmas. can't get better than that, can you ? christmas. can't get better than that, can you? lovely to see you too. elsewhere, family contact may well be possible by christmas, but only if care homes can cope with the extra workload of carrying out the tests, they are not 100% reliable. visits will still bring risks. damian grammaticas, bbc news. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. weather has been turning colder today in a north—western part of the uk, and that cold air has been bringing in showers. it was to have cloud and patchy rain to clear south—eastern pa rt patchy rain to clear south—eastern part of the uk this evening. 0nce that goes, the show is coming, and those will turn increasingly wintering in scotland and northern ireland. here, we will have icy conditions with a frost more likely. maybe not quite as cold in england

and wales. later, the club will be thickening and we hope will have wet weather coming to wales in the south—west. gradually, that will spill over into most of england and wales during thursday with snow developing over the hills of wales. the northern england for a while, could be brighter with wintry showers. the wintry showers in scotla nd showers. the wintry showers in scotland and northern ireland tends to get pushed away, so for many it will turn dry and sunny but will be a cold day. temperaturesjust above freezing. the highest temperatures across the south coast of england. the most to us for the rest of the week, the weather extending more u nsettled. week, the weather extending more unsettled. for many, it means rain, they could be sleet in it there. and we are likely to have snow over the hills, especially in the north.

this is bbc news. i'm simon mccoy. the headlines at 3pm — the uk becomes the first country in the world to approve the pfizer coronavirus vaccine and immunisation will start next week 55 million go into the strictest tiers in england — as new restrictions replace the second national lockdown. at last — a hug for loved ones, as care homes prepare to give covid tests to visitors. hello, darling! when did we last cuddle? february! after 266 long days, the return of fans to english league football is finally here — but the number of supporters is limited.

good afternoon. the health secretary, matt hancock, says "help is on its way", following the announcement that the uk has become the first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine for widespread use. the firstjabs could be given within days — for those who need it most, like nhs staff, care home workers, and residents. the uk has already ordered 40 million doses — enough to vaccinate 20 million people — with the first 800,000 arriving in the coming days. 95% effective, the pfizer biontech vaccine is the fastest ever to go from concept to reality — taking only ten months to follow the same steps that normally span a decade. the medicine regulator says no corners have been cut. now the country prepares for one of the biggest civilian projects in history. our health correspondent jim reed reports. another crucial hurdle cleared, as the world tries to get back to normal. this time next week, these vaccines, made by the drugs companies

biontech and pfizer, will be available to people in this country. it comes after the medicines regulator gave the green light for the jab to be rolled out nationwide. the vaccine will begin to be made available across the uk from next week. the vaccine will begin to be made available across the uk from next week. i would like to pay tribute to and to thank all 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. the uk regulator, the mhra, says the pfizerjab, which offers up to 95% protection against the covid—19 illness, is now safe to begin a full roll—out, after giving emergency approval. it is 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. it is the fastest ever vaccine to go from concept to reality, taking only ten months to follow the same scientific steps that

normally take a decade. 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 graphs, on every single piece of data. ministers say 800,000 doses of this vaccine will be available from next week, with millions more before the end of the year. it will need two injections, three weeks apart. a panel of government advisers has set out who gets it first, based on clinical need. this morning, they published their final recommendations. they said around a million older care home residents and staff should be first in line, followed by over—805, and other health and social care workers. this is phase one of the programme. in phase one, we hope that 90—99%

of people who are at risk of dying from covid—19 will be included or covered. most of the pfizer vaccine available in this country will be manufactured at this huge factory in central belgium. but this particularjab uses a new type of technology, meaning it has to be stored at —70 celsius, far colder than a standard fridge freezer. it will need to be shipped to the uk in special crates, or packed in dry ice, before being thawed out for the last stage of its journey. in reality, that means it could be hospital patients, along with nhs and care staff, who receive the vaccine first. the government says the vaccine will be available in three main ways — through a chain of special mass vaccination centres set up at sports grounds and community centres, through hospitals, including the nightingale hospitals, and through community services, like gps and pharmacists.

anyone in a priority group should now wait to be contacted by the nhs for an appointment. we definitely need a vaccine. i can understand people's concerns about it being rushed, rushed through. but that is what the trials are there for. i mean, there is a collaborative worldwide effort in producing all these vaccines, so, you know, somebody has to be first. the pfizer/biontech vaccine approved today was the first of three differentjabs that could be given the green light soon. altogether, the government has ordered 357 million doses from seven different manufacturers. i am just so, so pleased that, you know, 2020 has beenjust awful, and 2021 is going to be better, and help is on its way. this is more positive news, then, as the shops reopen, after the lockdown in england, but it is likely to be many months before any vaccination programme can really have an effect on this outbreak, so the message from both politicians and the scientists is stick to the rules this winter,

in the hope we can start to get back to normal in the spring. jim reed, bbc news. 0ur health editor hugh pym told me what happens next, now the vaccine has been approved. we are getting to the point in the spring where ministers have said some sort of return to normality may be possible, and for people to look forward to that, it's going to involve a massive effort to roll out this vaccine across the vulnerable groups, and then into other adult age groups, but the key thing is it starts for real next week, in hospitals, in different parts of the uk. the priority list given by the vaccine experts has care home residents and staff at the top, followed by health and care workers, followed by the over 805, but they've allowed a little sense of, if you like, latitude for the government to say, in practical terms, getting this vaccine is stored in hospitals

and administered there, given the temperature issues that we've been hearing about, that is the best way to do it. so nhs staff will be the first people to have the jabs and possibly care home workers going into hospitals. i understand ministers are working very hard to think about how this can be got into care homes, but there are logistical issues around that. it has to be said, though, this is a very big ask for the nhs, just when it is dealing with covid—19 and the onset of the flu season at some stage fairly soon, and all the normal winter pressures. so i think it is going to take a lot of work. and then of course there is the wider community roll—out, gp hubs, big vaccination centres in communities, and that may well need the other vaccine, the oxford astrazeneca vaccine, which are still going through the approval process. our medical editor, fergus walsh explained the significance of the today's vaccine approval. i think this marks

the beginning of the end of the pandemic being in sight. now, that's months and months away, but science has found the answer, it's found us the exit strategy, and if you had asked me back in april whether we would have a vaccine by december approved, i would have said pretty unlikely. so it is extraordinary. this is the first so—called rna vaccine that has been approved. it uses a tiny fragment of genetic material from the spike protein to stimulate an immune response and get cells to produce this tiny protein that is found in the virus, and it's 95% effective after two doses across all age groups. now, we don't know how long that protection lasts, and we don't know whether it also stops people passing on the virus, but it's extraordinarily good news. it's a great day for science and humanity.

dr raghib ali is a clinical epidemiologist and front line nhs consultant at oxford university hospitals nhs trust and joins me now. as you can see, from his car. first of all, what is your understanding as to when you will physically have the jab available? thank you for having me on the news today. we were told today are very good news that we can expect to start receiving the vaccine from next week, so that was a good surprise, as your colleagues have been saying, today really is a very great day in our battle against coronavirus. this is going to add a huge logistical task to what you are already facing. can you cope? huge logistical task to what you are already facing. can you cope ?m will be difficult. there are a number of points that arise from today's announcement. of course it

is extremely good news but there are logistical challenges, getting the vaccine particularly to care homes and the elderly, and the community, and the elderly, and the community, and hospital, and front line health workers. it won't be easy and it will take time but at least we are making the first step next week. you mention first line —— front line workers, the first thing is you will all be jabbing each other. no, that's true. it is a remarkable change, thinking back to march when i first returned back to the front and the fear we all had, particularly hearing so many health workers and doctors dying, to be in this position it months later it is fantastic i never can be more confident going forward can protect our colleagues, and most importantly our colleagues, and most importantly our patients and all those who are at risk. i wanted to talk about that because after so many months without any light at the end of the tunnel, how would you assess the mental strength of your colleagues? yes, a

huge relief today but the risk of thatis huge relief today but the risk of that is that everybodyjust slumps into total exhaustion. that's true. it has been a difficult few months and over the summer of course there was respite for us on the front line, but particularly the last few weeks as cases have increased again, many colleagues have been unwelcome and the stress as you say of dealing with this has been difficult. today will be a boost of everyone's morale. it is too early to say, we are not at the end of course, it will take months to get everybody vaccinated and of course no one is going to be protected before christmas, and christmas is really important, this five day break we've got, it is really essential we all continue to follow all the measures, social distancing etc, because the last thing we want is for elderly relatives and friends to be affected when that vaccine delivery is so close. can i ask you a practical

question, when a jab such as this one, when it relies on being frozen below 70 degrees, how quick do you have to be from the moment it arrives, or it gets unpacked before you can deliver it as a jab? from what i read, it can be kept in the fridge for up to five days and once it is out of the project can be used forup to it is out of the project can be used for up to six hours, so that does make it slightly easier than if it had to be at 70 degrees right up to the moment of delivery, so that five—day window allows it to deliver it to vaccination centres and care homes and hospitals. although there are challenges there are not beyond the limit of the nhs. not everyone will be vaccinated next week or even in the next month so it will take a few months for everyone to get there, in the meantime i hope eve ryo ne there, in the meantime i hope everyone will continue to be as careful as possible because it is a preve nta ble careful as possible because it is a preventable disease, these are

deaths we can prevent if we all follow the measures we have been asked to. ijust follow the measures we have been asked to. i just wonder, follow the measures we have been asked to. ijust wonder, i don't know if you have only been into the hospital, but the reaction of staff, what it is to a day like this, after so many months of dreadful news. we at last have something to celebrate. today we do have a meeting of co nsulta nts today we do have a meeting of consultants that work in acute medicine and that was of course great relief i guess was the overriding emotion that we can finally see. we talked a lot about light at the end of the tunnel and today really is a day when we can say that light is there and it is within sight. and we can look forward to certainly a summer of much more normality than we have expensed over the last year. it has been a very difficult year for all of us, those of us on the front line, people whose relatives have sadly died and even my own father, who was very worried about the virus, sadly he had a chance —— sadly he died before having a chance

to see this but he would have been delighted to hear this news and i hope that globally people can see this is a really important day for us. it has been an awful year, hasn't it? yes, as i said, my father died last month, and as i said, he was worried about catching coronavirus, in the end he died of something else but he would have been really pleased today that people in his situation could have been protected and i'm sure there are millions of people in the same situation. we will take precautions for the coming weeks and months, protect elderly relatives and do our best to get through the winter, spring and summer, and hopefully all of us will be in a better position than we are now. dr ellie, i am most grateful for your time, than we are now. dr ellie, i am most gratefulfor your time, thank than we are now. dr ellie, i am most grateful for your time, thank you, and thank all your colleagues as well. thank you. -- dr ali. joyce pinfield is director of the board of the national care assocation and is also

a care home owner. shejoins me now. that phrase, light at the end of the tunnel. hello! 0h, that phrase, light at the end of the tunnel. hello! oh, yes, it is a great light at the end of the tunnel. and how is this going to work, how will you prioritise what you do from now on? well, of course it is not immediate, and so we've got to keep on. although there is light at the end of the tunnel, at least we now have some hope. we've been working for the last nine months. our staff are very stressed out. they have been taking absolutely every precaution they can to keep covid out of the care homes, and so now at least we will have some hope, but we must not let up yet. we have got to wait until we can have the vaccinations, not only for the care staff, it looks as if our care staff may be getting the vaccinations before our very vulnerable residents, and so we have

got to go through the process of keeping up with our infection control measures and keeping the pressure up so we can get our very vulnerable residents through until they can have this vaccine, and it is going to take a while after the first vaccination anyway, so at least it is light at the end of the tunnel, as you say. logistically this will be a very difficult operation, and you raise a question about that decision as to who receives the jab. when you have an elderly resident, they are going to not take it particularly well if you say no, it is more important that other people get it? yes, you might get that, but of course they are the most vulnerable people. they are vulnerable not only in their age and their complex health needs, but they are very vulnerable because they are the people who are most at risk from the people who are most at risk from the virus. so for them to get it first would be a great help, and the

residents, if these vulnerable people get it first and the people who are most at risk of dying, then of course they are not going to spread it to others and their families such as the staff members, and now we are trying to enable visiting. 0f and now we are trying to enable visiting. of course we have to look after our visitors and their families as well. it is a great responsibility care providers have and our organisational will have to receive guidance from the government, such as the guidance that came out regarding visiting, which is absolutely wonderful, but we do have to comply with every part of that guidance, and it is a great stress on all of our resources and our staff to enable us to be able to go with that guidance so each care provider has to take their own

decisions, their own risk assessments, which also goes with how their environment is, as to how we can implement the guidance. but it would be great to have this vaccine rolled out as soon as possible. i do understand the first vaccine that has come on the market does have the problem that it does need to be kept at such low temperatures, so the health professionals may not be able to come into the care home settings to give us the vaccinations, but if our ca re give us the vaccinations, but if our care staff can go to the centre is to have their vaccinations, that would be a great help, and then hopefully that guidance, the logistical problems of bringing the vaccination into the care home settings can be enabled as soon as possible, and that will help us get to the end, and at least we can hopefully enjoy normal life again and have visitors on a regular

basis, the same as we were last year. wouldn't that be great? thanks for joining year. wouldn't that be great? thanks forjoining us, good to talk to you. this afternoon, the health secretary, matt hancock, answered mp's questions in the house of commons — among them the former health secretary and chair of the health select committee, jeremy hunt. mr speaker, this is a huge personal triumph for the health secretary, who has always backed the science, and in choosing and backing on behalf of the country the first vaccine to prove efficacious, he has scored a massive goal for the country. he deserves great credit for that and it will also have global significance. i was in a meeting with the world health 0rganisation this morning, who congratulated the uk on being the first country to approve the vaccine because it will help encourage other countries around the world to approve vaccines faster. i want to ask him if i may about something different, which is the plight of people with learning disabilities. he will know that public health england say they are two to four

times more likely to die from covid, and the news that he has given this morning about people in care homes is tremendously welcome, but people with learning disabilities often feel that they are forgotten, particularly if they are in supported accommodation, and i wonder whether he could redouble his effo rts wonder whether he could redouble his efforts to make sure that they too are able to be reunited with their families ahead of christmas? well, my right honourable friend is gracious and kind in what he says, andl gracious and kind in what he says, and i welcome the comments from the world health organisation this morning, who have supported the uk approach, and commended, rightly, the mhra, our independent regulator, who have followed all of the same steps that any regulator, any high—quality regulator would and should and will, but what they've doneis should and will, but what they've done is done then rapidly and sometimes in parallel, instead of one after the other, and that's how we've got to the position of being

the first country in the world to have a vaccine that is clinically authorised. it's because the mhra has done a brilliantjob, working with pfizer and biontech to make sure the same safety considerations are looked at, but they are looked at in are looked at, but they are looked atina are looked at, but they are looked at in a way that essentially made the process as fast as is feasibly and safely possible. in the who has backed that approach and i think regulators around the world could ta ke regulators around the world could take a look at the mhra and we should all congratulate them. he rightly asks about making sure that we vaccinate those with learning disabilities, and offer them vaccination at the right point in the priority realisation. this is an important consideration that i have —— prioritisation. i have discussed directly with the jc ahye, and have done that with the in the prioritisation they set up this morning. age is the single biggest

determinant of mortality from coronavirus. that's why age is the predominant factor in the prioritisation but it is not the only factor, and so that has been considered by the jc vi and i think it is very important that we accept and follow the jcvi advices much as is practicable. and we'll have a special programme covering the downing street press conference — led by the prime minister — this afternoon at 4:30pm on bbc one and the bbc news channel. england has returned to a three—tiered system of coronavirus restrictions after the second national lockdown ended at midnight. the tougher new system came into force hours after being approved by mp5 in a commons vote. more than 55 million people find themselves in the strictest two tiers. in tier1 — which currently only applies to cornwall, the isles of scilly and the isle of wight — up to six people can meet indoors or outdoors and pubs and restaurants can re—open. tier two — covers more than 32 million people. people there are not allowed to mix with anyone indoors unless in a support bubble. the rule of six applies outdoors.

pubs and restaurants can re—open — but alcohol can only be served with a substantial meal. more than 23 million people living in large parts of the midlands, north east and north west, as well as kent, are now in the strictest tier — tier 3. this means no mixing with other households — indoors or outdoors — and hospitality venues will stay closed except for takeaway. joining me now to discuss what this will mean for businesses in kent is jo james who is the chief executive of the kent invicta chamber of commerce. what has changed today, in effect?” think one of the most devastating news of what has changed today is actually our hospitality and leisure sector and they supply chain have had to stop. they have been placed in tier3, had to stop. they have been placed in tier 3, along with all its restrictions, i think it is absolutely devastating for the sector. they were the first ones to go into lockdown, and they are the

ones that have suffered all the way through. they have already missed out on easter trade and summer trade, and they were very reliant on things picking up and making some headway with the christmas trade. with further enforced closure is, sadly for many of us small businesses, this just might be one step too farfor them. businesses, this just might be one step too far for them. how many businesses are expressing that sort of fear to you? the majority of the businesses within our hospitality and leisure sector are saying this. they think it is very unjust that we have been put in tier 3. kent is one of the largest counties, as you know, and although we do have a few a bstra cts know, and although we do have a few abstracts that have very high levels, we very much appreciate that, the majority of our county actually has very low infection rates. if you look at somewhere like tunbridge wells, very low infection

rates and you have a hotel there, or a pub there, that has to close its doors, two miles down the road in the weald, which is part of east sussex, infection rates are actually higher, but they are allowed to remain open. it does feel very unjust for a sector that has been hit very hard by this. the difficulty of course is we have concentrated in the past on the area of swale, which has one of the largest infection rates in the country, and it is the catchall nature of the tiering that your members are complaining about. that's right, that is where they feel it is unjust, that it is very much a one size fits all, where would such a large county, just doesn't feel right. as a chamber, we have been working with our mp5 to try and lobby for the tiering to be done on a more localised level. obviously they haven't been successful with that. but we have

been reassured that this will be reviewed every two weeks, and i think there needs to be clarity on the process, and importantly what is the process, and importantly what is the exit plan? how do we get down to tier 2? what do we need to do and ensure it is reviewed every two weeks because there is no substitute for a fully functioning economy. so the government really needs to act at pace to ensure we have a trace, track and isolate system that is really responsive to business needs and enables us to move the economy forward. it is certainly good news about the vaccine, particularly as businesses cannot afford to be in and out of lockdown throughout 2021. businesses really need now to start to get the economy moving, and it can't do that if it is closed. to get the economy moving, and it can't do that if it is closed” haven't even mentioned brexit, had i? you hadn't, no! we are now 29

days away. larger businesses have made some preparations, but small businesses actually, our recent survey shows, they are nowhere near prepared, and i think a lot of them are taking the let's sit and wait if we have a deal, but actually even if we have a deal, but actually even if we have a deal, but actually even if we have a deal, there will still be changes at the borders, and businesses really do need to start acting now, before it's too late. we have a full day conference going on today with hundreds of businesses across the county, trying to help with those preparations, and obviously understanding what is going to happen with kent's rhodes being the gateway into and out of europe. unfortunately when it comes to brexit, there are still so many u na nswered to brexit, there are still so many unanswered questions yet. the

government hasn't announced what ta riffs government hasn't announced what tariffs businesses need. how can they work out their pricing if they don't know whether tariffs are going to be? so business is trying at the moment to cope with brexit and trying to make their plans for that, for the last eight months also had to contend with the coronavirus. it's certainly not been a good year for business. jo, good of you to join us. care home residents are being told that they will be able to have visitors again — to hug them and to hold their hands. more than a million rapid lateral flow coronavirus tests have been sent out to care homes in england with the aim that residents will be able to see two loved ones twice a week. damian grammaticas reports. liz jakes has waited for this moment since february, to hold and hug herfather. a rapid covid test is all she needs. it's very exciting. it's an enormous step forward, a really positive move, and i think it's going to be quite emotional. inside the care home,

her father waiting. they have seen each other through the pandemic, but only at a distance. it's going to be heaven! because we have sat out in the garden with pouring rain, or we have sat out with lovely sunshine. but today, you see, they can come and see me in my room! which is like old times. this is a pilot scheme in winchester, now to be rolled out nationally. lizzie, darling! hello, darling! when did we last cuddle? it isjust so natural and so spontaneous to be able to hug. as we always have done. oh, it's just amazing. it's so good. makes a real difference, that human contact. it feels like really a step back towards normality. whatever tier of covid restrictions you have been living under, it means visits with physical

contact will now be possible. a million test kits are being sent to the largest care homes and they will decide how many relatives each resident can see, and how often. well, it will be a designated person, a relative, who will be able to get that test done at the care home. and if it is negative, then they can, with all the full ppe and all the prevention as well that we normally have, they can then go into the care home and see their relative, which is a huge benefit, it really is. in winchester, they are already noticing what difference the renewal of family visits is making. everyone was at a very low point. they had no routine. some of them were not even getting up and getting dressed of a day, because what was the point? whereas now everyone is up, they are excited. they are having their hair done. excited for christmas. you can't get better than that, can you?

lovely to see you too! elsewhere, family contact may well be possible by christmas, but only if care homes can cope with the extra workload of carrying out the tests, and they are not 100% reliable. visits will still bring risks. damian grammaticas, bbc news. let's bring you an update on the problems at arcadia, going into administration. the prime minister said the business secretary will be looking into the issue of the pension fund. we are just hearing that this pension fund which has an estimated deficit over £350 million. in the last few moments, the wife of sir philip green, stena green, tina greene, who is the ultimate owner of the fashion group that has collapsed said that she was bringing forward payments she had committed to make to the retailer's pension fund paying £100 million into that pension scheme in three instalments as part of a restructuring plan for the group that had been agreed by creditors. a statement issued on her behalf said two instalment of £25

million have already been paid, and a third and final instalment of £50 million was not due to be paid until september next year, which is going to bring that payment forward to be paid in the next 7—10 days to com plete paid in the next 7—10 days to complete the £100 million commitment of payment. there is no legal pressure on them to come up with any more, but that still leaves £250 million in that pensions deficit. have more later on. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. the weather has been turning colder today in north—western parts of the uk. and that colder air has been bringing in showers. we do have cloud and patchy rain to clear in south—eastern parts of this evening. 0nce once that goes, the showers will come in. here, we will have some icy conditions with a frost more likely. maybe not quite as cold for england and wales, later the cloud will be thickening and getting wet weather into wales and the south—west.

that will spill its way over to most of england and rain over hills of wales. it may be brighter with wintry showers. the wintry showers in scotland and northern ireland a tend to get pushed away. for many, it will turn dry and sunny but will be a colder day with temperatures just above freezing. hello, this is bbc news with simon mccoy. 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. 55 million go into the strictest tiers in england, as new restrictions replace the second national lockdown. hello, darling! when did we last cuddle? february.

at last, a hug for loved ones, as care homes prepare to give covid tests to visitors. sport now, and for a full round—up from the bbc sport centre, here's sarah. good afternoon. some fans are getting ready to return to sporting events today, as the lockdown in england is being replaced by the tier system. a handful of spectators will be welcomed to some football league matches this evening, while four race meetings also have had a limited number of fans during the day. one of the games where spectators will return is at the valley in south east london where charlton host mk dons. i have watched all of the games on extreme, so i have seen what has happened. but you really miss the communal aspect of it all, just meeting people before the game, just watching with a crowd of people. because football for me is about being part of something bigger than yourself. so actually being in a

crowd knowing people, meeting up before and after, talking about the game, it is all essential to it. so i can't wait. 1,000 boxing fans will be allowed into wembley arena, for anthony joshua's heavyweight title defence against kubrat pulev this month. local authorities have given the go—ahead, with london falling into tier 2 of the latest covid—19 restrictions. there will be strict safety measures in place for the fight, which is a week on saturday, when joshua's four titles will be on the line. he hasn't fought on home soilfor over two years, and tickets will be priced at between £100 and £1,000. world heavyweight boxing champion tyson fury has called for the bbc to take him off this year's sports personality of the year award shortlist. he's been nominated alongside england cricketer stuart broad, record—breaking jockey hollie doyle, formula 1 world champion lewis hamilton, liverpool and england footballer jordan henderson, and snooker world champion ronnie 0'sullivan. he posted this video on his social media accounts earlier.

this is tyson fury, and this is a message for the bbc. please take me off your list as i am the people's champion and have no need for verification or any awards. i know who i am and what i have done in sport. the love of the people is worth more to me than all of the awards in the world. so, to all of my supporters, please don't vote on this. take me off the list. all of my love, tyson fury the gypsy king. wales coach wayne pivac has made nine changes to his side to face italy in saturday's autumn nations cup fifth—place play—off. the major surprise comes with the return of wing george north at outside centre alongside johnny williams. half—backs kieran hardy and callum sheedy are handed second starts. and flankerjustin tipuric is fit after missing the england defeat through concussion. british driver george russell said he was unbelievably grateful to williams and mercedes, after being confirmed as lewis hamilton's replacement at this weekend's sakhir grand prix. hamilton was ruled out after testing

positive for covid—19. russell is with the williams team, but mercedes have guided his career since 2017, and williams have agreed to release him. he said, "nobody can replace lewis, but i'll give my all for the team in his absence from the moment i step in the car." next season, mick schumacher, son of the seven—time world champion michael schumacher, will make his f1 debut. he says it's "a dream i have been chasing since i was three years old" after being confirmed as a driver with the haas team. he'll line up in melbourne in march, 30 years after his father was given his debut. the german, who's 21, could wrap up the formula two championship in bahrain this weekend. england's andy sullivan got off to a great start at golf‘s dubai championship, carding an 11 under par opening round of 61. and he threatened to break 60

forjust the second time in european tour history. sullivan needed to birdie his final two holes to do so. this long—range attempt agonisingly close on his second to last hole. he settled for a two—shot lead over a group of three that includes compatriots matt wallace and ross fisher. that's all the sport for now. i'll have more for you in the next hour. now on bbc news, your questions answered. you've been sending in your questions about the pfizer and biontech vaccine approval. here to answer them is peter drobac, the global infectious sisease specialist at oxford university, and 0ksana pyzik, who's the lead 0utbreak expert from university college london. thank you both for your time on what isa thank you both for your time on what is a huge day with many, many questions coming in. if i could start with you, peter. how long will

immunity lasts once you have been vaccinated? a great question. the a nswer vaccinated? a great question. the answer is we don't know yet. these vaccines are new, and of course the virus is less than one—year—old. all we know from these trials it is that there appears to be quite good protection after about one month, but only time will tell. early indications suggest that it may not be very long—lived, it is possible we will need vaccine boosters every year or every couple of years. only time will tell. that is a question a lot of people have been asking. your reaction, first of all, to this announcement, given that ten months ago this process hasn't even begun. if you take a step back and think about it, it is absolutely extraordinary. normally the time it ta kes to extraordinary. normally the time it takes to develop a vaccine, go through testing and trials and approvals is ten years or more. the fa ct approvals is ten years or more. the fact that this has been done in a matter of months is an extraordinary scientific achievement. and it has been done really without cutting any important corners. so i really feel confident about the safety and

efficacy data that we have seen so far. it is really a date to celebrate. isn't it good to have some good news for once? this question from miss brown in oxford. can this vaccine for use in people with pre—existing autoimmune conditions? what this vaccine has, there is no evidence that the vaccine would make any autoimmune condition worse. certainly anyone with autoimmune conditions should be looking to get the vaccine. previously however, other types of vaccines may be cause for concern, but this rna vaccine is not. and there really should not be any issues with it. peter, a long question, which i will read in its entirety, because it raises some issues here. could you ask the experts to explain if the vaccine is 95% effective, what should be the concerns regarding the 5%? does it

mean that 5% of the population will not be protected all that we still have a 5% chance of getting it? or could it be that the effect of the vaccine reduces the severity by 5%? great question and a difficult one. the first thing to note is that there is no vaccine which is 100% effective. the flu vaccine that many of us get every year is usually around 50% effective, the measles vaccine is maybe 96%. these figures are actually really, really good. what it means, according to this trial, they were looking for symptomatic infections. so, according to what we have seen, for every 100 infections, 95% of them we re every 100 infections, 95% of them were in the placebo group and 5% in the vaccine group. it means that your chance of getting symptomatic infection of covid—19 after the vaccine should be about one 20th of what it is without a vaccine. that is very good. it still does mean that there is a small risk we also don't yet know if this particular vaccine can prevent asymptomatic

infection. you might have a low level virus circulating, that has big public health implications. what it does do is offer very good protection against symptomatic infection. i saw you nodding your head at that. absolutely, i think this is an important part to also highlight is the fact that, given the efficacy levels are just extraordinary, again, the emergency authorisation was only set at 50%. we heard dr fauci is said was ecstatic with anything over 70%. for us to have several vaccines at this level of efficacy means that we should expect broad coverage across the population in reducing symptom severity. however, the question remains around asymptomatic ability to prevent those cases. a lot of people asking this question. are you protected after the first dose of the vaccine? you will have some

level of protection, but it isn't as effective without that second booster dose which comes 21 days later. that is the sole immune response in its strongest form. while there is a little bit, but kicks in before christmas, it is most effective after two. so we shouldn't drop any of the public health measures that have been suggested by the government, facemask wearing, social distancing etc, that will remain critical in that interim period. peter, another question that we are getting a lot here at the bbc. how can we be sure that the vaccine is safe after such a short testing period? the trials have actually been incredibly rigorous, the regulators have been doing rolling the views of the safety eco city two reviews of the safety eco city two reviews of the safety efforts at... they have been

following this for months. what we can say is that tens of thousands of people have been receiving this vaccine and some of the others that we have been hearing about in that adverse events were mild and that there were no significant adverse events or there were no significant adverse eve nts or severe there were no significant adverse events or severe adverse events that we re events or severe adverse events that were at to the vaccine. that doesn't mean that this is 100% safe, we know that they can occasionally be rare events, one in 100,001 in! million. so with any new vaccine or treatment that comes onto the market, we can continue to monitor any indications of safety concerns after the fact. so things did move quickly, but with rigour. all i can tell you is that ifi rigour. all i can tell you is that if i were in the queue, now at the top of the queue in priorities, i would feel comfortable getting his vaccine. i would feel comfortable with one of my loved ones getting this vaccine. vaccines typically ta ke this vaccine. vaccines typically take a long period, what steps have been shortened and how to enable this vaccine to be approved so quickly? a number of things have been combined. for example, in some

cases, rather than going to the phase one and then the phase two and then the phase three trials, some of those were combined to make them run a little bit quicker. as i said earlier in the regulators have been doing rolling reviews of the data on all the way along, to speed up the process. really a lot of the discovery was done remarkably quickly. we saw it here in oxford with my colleagues develop in your vaccine in weeks within the genetic code being done. there are still significant safeguards in place, regulatory agencies are independent, they are independent scientists who are independent of politicians and the government. so i do feel co mforta ble the government. so i do feel comfortable with where we are. this isa comfortable with where we are. this is a yes or no answer from kim comfortable with where we are. this is a yes or no answerfrom kim in north yorkshire. as we vaccine compulsory? no, the government has decided that they will not be making it mandatory by the state. it will be prioritised according to people who wish to take it. but it is not compulsory. picking up on what you we re compulsory. picking up on what you

were saying earlier, what are known of those possible side—effects and the risk of each vaccine? and do different vaccines have different risks? obviously they do. they have different types of formulations. obviously the vaccines that we have seen data for from phase three, they are different. there is the mrna vaccine, the oxford vaccine uses a piece of the virus, a protein which is spliced onto a harmless virus that affects chimpanzees. none of these bring the coronavirus itself into your system. the side—effects we have seen typically been mild, thatis we have seen typically been mild, that is headache, fatigue, pain at the injection site for a day or two afterwards, typical vaccine side effects. to my knowledge, they have not been severe side effects that have been attributed to those vaccines. that is all we know it now. the people with complex medical conditions and comorbidities, they may want to obviously consult with their doctors first. picking up on

your previous answer to my mum worked in a care home, when would she get the vaccine? because she is a care home worker, she would be able to get the vaccine out of the hospital. this vaccine must be stored at —70 —80 celsius. hospitals have that deep freeze type of facility. so care home workers will be vaccinated even ahead of the care home residents. we are really rattling through these. neal in croydon asks will the roll—out of the vaccine beginning next week with the vaccine beginning next week with the priority group, will those in that group who have had covid already be vaccinated? that group who have had covid already be vaccinated ?” that group who have had covid already be vaccinated? i believe so. i don't know the answer for sure because we have not seen the full roll—out plan. what i can tell you is that we know that people who are infected with covid—19 and recover generally do develop some immunity. it tends to be quite variable. some people seem to have high levels of

antibodies and a stronger response, others less so. we do not know how long it lasts for. the thinking is about the vaccine which appears to produce a very robust immune protection would, if anything, give you a bit of a booster. my suggestion would be that even people who have had covid—19 and recovered still get vaccinated when they are eligible to do so. i do not know exactly what the policy is going to say about that. josephine from worcester asks is the vaccine safe if you are on different types of medication already? vaccines work in a different way to other medicines. they stimulate your natural immune response. in general, the interaction profile with other medicines is limited. especially because as mentioned this is not a light vaccine where there is sometimes an interaction profile. this should not be a big concern. and in bristol asks what is the long—term effect that the vaccine has on the body? i will ask you

both. most of the effect that we see, the adverse effects related to vaccines, actually happen quite soon after injection. we would expect to have any serious adverse effects picked up in the phase three trial. it is unlikely the to decades later. from the current review, we are pretty confident about the safety of the vaccine, because we went and we nt the vaccine, because we went and went through that critical hurdle of the phase three trial. i will allow peter to elaborate. does it mean that if you don't have a short—term effect from it, that long—term you will be ok? most adverse events from vaccines tend to happen quite quickly, those are immune reactions, for example. i think that the data we have so far is promising. the only way we will know for sure is through long—term monitoring of the hundreds of thousands who will

eventually receive this vaccine, eventually receive this vaccine, eventually millions. in the case of really rare events, only time will tell. this from someone, can you confirm that the individuals who will receive the first vaccine will have to self—isolate between jabs? again with the policy, i have not seen specifications and self—isolation. i imagine that, again, i don't foresee that they will add this additional barrier towards vaccine uptake. however, peter may also be able to shed some light on this. i think again, because that first dose does provide a bit ofa because that first dose does provide a bit of a primer in terms of an autoimmune response, it would be unlikely. let's see what peter thinks. because the worry is that there is nothing to suggest at the moment that even taking the vaccine means you don't pass this on. that is correct, so we don't know, it may be possible that with this vaccine,

you could still get an asymptomatic infection where you feel fine but have a low level of virus that could infect others. we don't have the a nswer yet, infect others. we don't have the answer yet, the oxford vaccine provide some indication that it actually reduces that spread. what we need to understand is this — none of these vaccines give you invincibility. even at 90% or 95% effectiveness still means there as a small chance of developing symptomatic infection. certainly in those first few weeks after receiving your firstjob, where you to come into contact with someone who is covid—19 —positive, you would wa nt to ta ke who is covid—19 —positive, you would want to take the same precautions, including self—isolation but anybody else would. the other thing we have to remember is that the things we have all been asked to do like masking and physical distancing are not going to go away anytime soon, evenin not going to go away anytime soon, even in the context of a vaccine. that is only going to change when we have a big percentage of the population that has been vaccinated, enough to give us a population level of protection. how big is that? what percentage of people would that be?

estimates vary, typically the estimates are around 70% of the population. it is unlikely to be much less than that. we have seen some populations that have been really ha rd some populations that have been really hard hit by the virus where 50% of people had been infected, they are still not enough to give herd immunity. it is 70% and it could possibly be even higher. 0ksana, could possibly be even higher. 0ksa na, last one could possibly be even higher. 0ksana, last one from adrian. does the vaccine work as a treatment uncovered positive patients whether with symptoms or without? we have cove red with symptoms or without? we have covered the asymptomatic part of the vaccine, but if you have... we see the vaccine or treatment per se, if you have the vaccine, it means it will reduce the severity of the symptoms. ultimately, a vaccine is prophylactic rather than use as a treatment. anything to add, peter? i think that is right. ijust want treatment. anything to add, peter? i think that is right. i just want to add the message that this is exciting and it is a light at the end of the tunnel for all of us. it will not meaningfully change most of

our lives until probably the spring. so we really need to double down during these difficult winter months and the holiday period and make smart decisions now, because there isa smart decisions now, because there is a light at the end of the tunnel. ican is a light at the end of the tunnel. i can see 0ksana nodding. we end on agreement. peter and 0ksana, thank you both very much. "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—19 lockdowns, 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, 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. antonio guterres will say economic pressures should be used to help curb emissions. it is time that those who pollute the atmosphere with greenhouse gases pay a price of what that pollution, he will say. he will urge countries to end all subsidies forfossil fuels and 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 rowlett, bbc news.

and you can hear the speech from the un secretary general on our special programme ‘state of the planet‘ at 8:30pm 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. another legend, ben brown, is up with the headlines in a minute. now it's time for a look at the weather with darren bett. the weather will look and feel very different over the next couple of days. it is getting cold already, but it will feel cold to the rest of this week. it is telling more u nsettled, this week. it is telling more unsettled, that means wet weather for many of us. it will be rain, sleet in there, snow more likely over the hills, particularly in the north. that cold air is pushing into the north—west of the uk now, but it will sweep down across the whole of country tonight and into tomorrow. that is the straightforward bit, the complication is that we end up with an area of low pressure. that will bring fans of wet weather around it, threatening some snow which will a lwa ys threatening some snow which will always be difficult to get the

detail exactly right. the cold air is bringing in a shower is at the moment, that will continue through this evening. that dumb and drizzly weather clears away to the south—east, then those showers in the north west and in northern ireland turning increasingly wintry. that will mean some icy conditions for scotland and northern ireland with a frost more likely here. not quite so cold across england and wales because the cloud will be increasingly thicker. we have worked weather coming to its wales and the south—west, that wet and cloudy weather will push into much of england and wales through the day. eventually some snow in the welsh hills. brighterfor a eventually some snow in the welsh hills. brighter for a while eventually some snow in the welsh hills. brighterfor a while in northern england, so some showers here, that the wintry showers in scotla nd here, that the wintry showers in scotland and northern ireland will tend to push away so for many it will be a cold, crisp, quite sunny day. temperatures barely getting above freezing. highest temperatures across the south coast of england, we have wetter weather developing. that could arrive into the south—east on thursday night. at the same time late in the night, we have wet weather coming into scotland. this will be snow to many levels and

could be heavy snow over the hills. it will gradually turn to rain over most it will gradually turn to rain over m ost pla ces it will gradually turn to rain over most places through the day, but we stay with wetter weather across parts of northern england, the midlands and east anglia. may be snow at lower levels too. it will be another cold day. and it will be windy around coastal areas as well as we head into the weekend, it is gradually coming down. we are still in the cold air, but it will be turning drier. the winds will be dropping throughout this weekend as well. still have some patchy wet weather around amongst the rain on saturday. it looks an awful lot dry on sunday. still in the cold air, there is to a risk of frost overnight.

this is bbc news. iam ben i am ben brown. the headlines — pfizer's vaccine has been given the green light for use in the uk. it could be rolled out across the country next week. the second national lockdown has come to an end but england has now moved into tougher tier restrictions. some welcome news for those wanting to visit loved ones in care homes. visits will be possible if they test negative for covid—19. "our 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. after 266 long days, the return of fans to english league football is finally here — but the number of supporters is limited.

good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. "help is on its way" — the words of the health secretary matt hancock, as the uk becomes to first country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine for widespread use. the first jab could be given within days for those who need the vaccine the most, such as nhs staff and care home workers and residents. the uk has already ordered 40 million doses — enough to vaccinate 20 million people. the first 800,000 will arrive in the next few days. 95% effective, the pfizer biontech vaccine is the fastest ever to go from concept to reality — taking only ten months to follow the same steps that normally span a decade. the medicine regulator says no corners have been cut. in the house of commons this

afternoon, the health secretary matt hancock has been giving an update to mp5 about the vaccine roll—out and said the healthservice would contact people about receiving the jabs. his labour opposite number, jonathan ashworth, urged ministers to empahsise how important it was for people to get vaccinated. this is indeed fantastic news about the pfizer vaccine, and i want to join with the secretary of state in congratulating all who have been involved in making this happen. we have rightly clapped carers throughout this crisis, mr speaker, i wonder if we should as a nation come together and applaud our scientists as well one evening? and it is also incumbent upon all of us across this house to reinforce the case that vaccination saves lives, and if it helps, i will stand alongside the secretary of state,

socially distance, of course, on any platform or in any tv studio to show that we are united, cross party, in promoting vaccination. now, mr speaker, our constituents will have legitimate questions, and they shouldn't be ridiculed for asking legitimate questions, so will he launch a large—scale public information campaign to answer questions and encourage uptake? will he consider sending a pamphlet, perhaps, to every household? now we know that dangerous myths circulate and social media and we again repeat our offer to work with ministers to curb online harms and i hope we can work together and take something forward on that front. mr speaker, ifi forward on that front. mr speaker, if i may, the honourable gentleman has worked supportively and constructively with the government throughout this pandemic, and i've paid tribute to the approach he has taken and paid tribute to the approach he has ta ken and that paid tribute to the approach he has taken and that he took again today. i stand with him in saying vaccination save lives, and if we

can together encourage anybody to ta ke can together encourage anybody to take a vaccine who may be hesitant by appearing together and being vaccinated together, then of course i'd be happy to do that. i recommend, mr speaker, that we have a professional vaccinating us, of course. laughter i don't think you would trust me to do that. he asked for a public information campaign and the will of course be a public information campaign, and he asked about health inequalities, which is a very important consideration. of course, the best thing to support tackling health inequalities is the fact we have a vaccine but we absolutely need to try to reach all parts in all communities across the whole country. matt hancock, the health secretary in the commons.

we just have the latest covid—19 figures for the uk. 648 new covid—19 deaths reported today, compared to 603 deaths yesterday. the uk also reporting an increase in the number of cases. 16,170 new covid cases today, compared to 13,430 a day earlier. that is the government data. 648 new covid deaths within 28 days of a positive covid test. let's talk more about the approval for the pfizer vaccine now. joining me now is professor beatta kampmann — who's head of the vaccine centre at the london school of hygiene and tropical medicine and she is also a working group contributor to the uk vaccine network. i suppose those latest death figures, 648 new covid deaths underline what a huge breakthrough

this is to get this vaccine approved? absolutely. good afternoon, simon. ithink approved? absolutely. good afternoon, simon. i think the first message is don't drop the masks yet because we are as far as i can see at the beginning of the final stretch of this marathon. i feel like i have been walking around with a big smile on my face today because this is really terrific news for the country, for vaccine knowledge tests and vaccines in general, so i'm really excited, but there are also some serious challenges ahead. took us through those challenges. specifically the logistical challenge of actually getting millions of doses of this vaccine into people's arms. absolutely. so these slight constraints with this vaccine is it has to be kept at extremely cold temperatures, and this is a challenge even for a highly resourced country like the uk. however, we are not going to give out millions of doses in the next two weeks. i believe we have 800,000 doses on order before the

end of the year and they are going to be distributed in a very tiered way, with the most vulnerable people first, because the primary motivation here is to prevent deaths, and that's where the first lot of vaccination must go, now that it has been found to be safe and effective and approved by the mhra is the first country in the world. you talked about who is being prioritised, in particular care home staff, ca re prioritised, in particular care home staff, care home residents, do you foresee any logistical problems in getting the vaccine, which does need to be stored in these cold temperatures, to getting it to care homes quickly? yeah, i think there area homes quickly? yeah, i think there are a whole lot of people, including probably the army, worrying about exactly that right now, and there are particular cool bags, and the vaccine can be kept for several days onceit vaccine can be kept for several days once it is out of those cool bags and special conditions etc, so it is and special conditions etc, so it is a logistics challenge, which is why

i think it has been decided to start off with hospitals first, and to get the first sort of you know facilities that will have these minor70 or facilities that will have these minor 70 or —80 freezes up and running with the health care force involved, and then roll out to elderly care home residents and those who look after them. how that looks on monday i can't really tell you now but i'm sure everyone is trying to get all hands on deck and vaccinated are being recruited from all across the country, and there is all across the country, and there is a good plan to roll this out. i think we need to be a little bit patient and we cannot demand eve ryo ne patient and we cannot demand everyone is vaccinated in the first week. we need to make sure that the vaccines are delivered in a safe and reliable way because otherwise we won't have the desired effects. as an expert in this field, if i had asked you back injanuary whether you thought we could have a vaccine like this approved, ready to go into people's arms by the end of the

year, would you have thought that was in way possible?” year, would you have thought that was in way possible? i think it is a real triumph. i have been on this programme a few times and i have a lwa ys programme a few times and i have always predicted it would take until spring or the summer until we see the full effect of these vaccines for our own actions, and i still believe that will be the case to some degree. however, to be able to get on with the approval so quickly shows everyone has put their thoughts to it in advance of the processes coming through, and that isi processes coming through, and that is i think another milestone for the way that we need to move forward with the approval of vaccinations or vaccines in general, not that we wa nt to vaccines in general, not that we want to have many pandemics, but i think we have learned an awful lot through these processes. and what would you say to those people, and there are some out there, who are worried about having the vaccine, may be don't think it is safe? we have seen quite a strong anti—vax campaign on social media, what would you say to them, what is your message to those sort of people? there is a significant amount of

safety data available. we need to have very careful postmarketing surveillance and there is a system in place to report adverse events, which is tried and tested. it is a new technology platform which is why i think it is really important we have to keep this monitoring system, we really have to pay attention to that. but the people who are sitting in care homes in their 805 and their ca re rs in care homes in their 805 and their carers i don't think will be the first people to refuse these vaccines. —— the first people who refuse these vaccines. as we go further along we need to collect further along we need to collect further safety information etc and see how it all works and that might also help people see the benefits and give them an opportunity to raise concerns and the communication campaign that has to be run by all of us who are advocates for vaccines and by the government and by the jcvi etc, has to be really, really straight with people, and take their concerns seriously as well. good to talk to you. many thanks. my

pleasure. care home residents are being told that they will be able to have visitors again — to hug them and to hold their hands. more than a million rapid lateral flow coronavirus tests have been sent out to care homes in england with the aim that residents will be able to see two loved ones twice a week. damian grammaticas reports. liz jakes has waited for this moment since february, to hold and hug herfather. a rapid covid test is all she needs. it's very exciting. it's an enormous step forward, a really positive move, and i think it's going to be quite emotional. inside the care home, her father waiting. they have seen each other through the pandemic, but only at a distance. it's going to be heaven! because we have sat out in the garden with pouring rain, or we have sat out with lovely sunshine. but today, you see, they can come

and see me in my room! which is like old times. this is a pilot scheme in winchester, now to be rolled out nationally. lizzie, darling! hello, darling! when did we last cuddle? it isjust so natural and so spontaneous to be able to hug, as we always have done. oh, it's just amazing. it's so good. makes a real difference, that human contact. it feels like a step, really, back towards normality. whatever tier of covid restrictions you have been living under, it means visits with physical contact will now be possible. a million test kits are being sent to the largest care homes and they will decide how many relatives each resident can see, and how often. well, it will be a designated person, a relative, who will be able to get that test done at the care home. and if it is negative,

then they can, with all the full ppe and all the prevention as well that we normally have, they can then go into the care home and see their relative, which is a huge benefit, it really is. in winchester, they are already noticing what difference the renewal of family visits is making. everyone was at a very low point. they had no routine. some of them were not even getting up and getting dressed of a day, because what was the point? whereas now everyone is up, they are excited. they are having their hair done. excited for christmas. you can't get better than that, can you? lovely to see you too! elsewhere, family contact may well be possible by christmas, but only if care homes can cope with the extra workload of carrying out the tests, and they are not 100% reliable. visits will still bring risks. damian grammaticas, bbc news.

the headlines on bbc news... the uk becomes the first country in the world to approve the pfizer coronavirus vaccine and immunisation will start next week. england's lockdown has come to an end but tier restrictions have been toughened up. people will now be able to visit their loved ones in care homes, providing they have tested negative for covid—19. england has returned to a three—tiered system of coronavirus restrictions after the second national lockdown ended at midnight. the tougher new system came into force hours after being approved by mp5 in a commons vote. more than 55 million people find themselves in the strictest two tiers. in tier 1, which currently only applies to cornwall, the isles of scilly and the isle of wight — up to six people can meet indoors or outdoors and pubs and restaurants can re—open. tier two — covers more than 32 million people. people in tier 2 are not allowed to mix with anyone indoors unless in a support bubble.

the rule of six applies outdoors. pubs and restaurants can re—open — but alcohol can only be served with a substantial meal. more than 23 million people living in large parts of the midlands, north east and north west, as well as kent, are now in the strictest tier — tier 3. this means no mixing with other households — indoors or outdoors — and hospitality venues will stay closed except for takeaway. phil mackie reports from birimingham which is in tier 3. for these people who hadn't been to the shops for months, to the shops for a month, it was worth getting up early. by the time europe's biggest primark reopened, just before seven, there were nearly 100 waiting to get in, most had come to avoid any crowds later. i'm dreading it,

i'm dreading it. i'm glad it's not busy in that aspect because i hate when it's busy, shopping. so, hopefully, it stays quiet while i'm here this morning. i definitely don't want to be in crowds. i wanted to get in nice and early to get back out, really, as safe as possible. is everyone ready? cheering over at selfridge's, they were excited to welcome shoppers back. it's so important, and whilst online trading has been brilliant and stores have been supporting with that, nothing beats that experience of having customers in the store shopping for their christmas gifts. birmingham is in tier 3, that means you can't go to the pub, you can't meet your friends and go for a meal, and you can't sit inside. it's click and collect, or takeaway only. normally, this street would be packed with hundreds of shoppers, because this is where the german christmas market would be. there is no obvious sign of a mass rush back to the shops today and that might be because people are still nervous. this is an area where there has been a high infection rate and people don't want to come out and see that rate go up again. very few people have returned

to their city centre offices either, and that means trade is affected. "the bullring has been birmingham's shopping centre "for a thousand years. " shopping just isn't as much fun as it used to be. when the bullring opened more than half a century ago, it was the place to go. now it can be easier and safer to shop from home. this family—owned jewellery store has been trading in the city centre for nearly six decades. the footfall is a big problem. if you look at the city, the amount of empty shops just proves the problem. the rents are too high in any case, and the footfall is getting smaller, not bigger, and all of that has a knock—on effect. the big cities are being hurt the most, so even if you are booked up for the whole of the next week,

if people don't come back after that, there will be a problem. we support each other, as much as they support us, so if someone comes and drops something off at the cobbler's, they may pop in and get a haircut or vice versa. and it is that community that i think is going to be key and that is what lockdown has shown, that taking that away showed how quickly you need to bring it back together. because it's in the highest tier, birmingham's night—time economy is still effectively shut down. but at least now, the city is beginning to come back to life during the day. phil mackie, bbc news, birmingham. 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.

what is the scene there? people can go back to their shops, is it very busy? well, ben, yes, it is busy, it is busier than what we have seen in recent weeks, but is it as busy as it would usually be at this time before christmas? i don't think so. we've seen queues outside debenhams here today but apart from that i haven't really seen any other queues elsewhere. we had infill‘s review that there were queues outside primark in birmingham earlier but not today here in birmingham. this is the busiest high street in europe. people have come out today to see if they can get any bargains in time for christmas, but what a week for the high street. we have heard about debenhams, we have heard about arcadia, and now today we are hearing about bonmarche, the weimann's clothing store that has gone into administration, putting 1500 jobs at risk. —— the woman's

clothing store. we know they will continue trading until they will try to find a buyer. but as that happens, the high street continues to bubble along. other news we have heard in the business sector today is about tesco paying their business rate relief back to the element, almost £600 million. you may remember at the start of the pandemic the government was paying people's business rates as they were going through some difficult times, tesco made the decision to pay it back, after getting criticism that it was paying dividends to its shareholders while taking government money. now to speak to me about all of this, i am joined this afternoon by richard lynn, the ceo of retail economics. thank you so much for coming on. first of all, just tell me what the high street is going through at the moment. we have seen this week has been incredibly

challenging for so many companies. what lies ahead ? challenging for so many companies. what lies ahead? it isjust an enormously difficult time for retailers at the moment. they have been through such a disruptive year with the impact of the pandemic, subsequent lockdowns, the split between essential and nonessential retailers trying to trade between this. the reality is many retailers are still in survival mode, trying to cut costs, and clinging on to trade through the christmas period to strengthen balance sheets, and there is a big polarisation as well between smaller retailers and large multiple retailers and their ability to be able to leverage the online channel, which is going to become so critical this christmas. just talking about that online channel, we have seen during the pandemic online sales have gone up dramatically as people have been sitting at home ordering things online. how important is it for retailers to explore that during this time, when we have seen people like arcadia and debenhams fall down

because they haven't invested enough in their online operation? it is absolutely critical. last year about 20% of total retail sales were online. it will jump 20% of total retail sales were online. it willjump to 80%. there will be a much higher proportion of sales, so having an online proposition that resonates with your co re proposition that resonates with your core customer base, and that takes investment as well, boost that capacity, but some of the retailers i have been talking to for example have said during lockdown they have put all of their effort, all of their investment into the online channel but what they have managed to do is fast forward their online preparation. perhaps what they have wanted to achieve in three years in the space of three months, so they heavily manage to boost their online capacity and pivot their business to stop looking at the footfall figures, footfall down almost a quarter, compared to last year. are you surprised that more people

aren't out today? has that got anything to do with consumer confidence for example? anything to do with consumer confidence for example ?” anything to do with consumer confidence for example? i think consumers are still wary about the impact of the virus, they may not necessarily want to get onto public transport, many of us are still working from home as well, so actually the distribution of retail spending across physical channels has changed as well. consumers are showing preference to shop out, retail park environments as opposed to shopping centres, so there has been that redistribution and re—jiggling of physical spend as well. thank you for coming out in this very cold weather. as we were saying before, it is busy, there we re saying before, it is busy, there were a lot of people, it seems to be getting busier by the hour but is it as busy as it usually would be? problem may not. thank you very much indeed. disabled child ren's long—term

development is being severely affected by the pandemic, a coalition of 80 charities is warning. research by the disabled children's partnership has found that crucial education and health support has significantly reduced since the outbreak. it heard from 3,400 families, with more than 800 of them saying their disabled child was not back in school full time. 0ur disability news correspondent nikki fox has been speaking to one young boy who is desperate to return to school. i feel like not normal sometimes. it's like everyone's back at school, and guess who back? me. jacob has a very rare type of congenital muscular dystrophy, an aggressive type. he is losing skills all the time to stop it is progressive. there is no cure forjacob. there is no treatment. jacob loved school but since march he has only been able to attend four times. my old school

couldn't touch me, they refused to touch me because of corona and everything. i miss all my friends. i have forgotten most of their names, because i haven't seen them since march. it seems like almost a com plete march. it seems like almost a complete breakdown in the system somewhere. he does have a school place. he does have funding, everything is there, but it is like the whole process has fallen apart. jacob has always been at full—time school. the family has been told because of coronaviruses support needs can't be met. not only can he not finish primary school injuly, his transition to secondary school has now been delayed because a plan has now been delayed because a plan has yet to be finalised to make sure he can return safely. itjust seems like i am always breaking bad news and everything in his life. we have to say to him you can't go to school. it is awful, just horrible for him. families of young disabled people, getting the right specialist

support in schools is difficult enough anyway but the coronavirus has only added an extra layer of complexity. we are concerned that the cracks in the system before covid have been made significantly worse and educational and health support really crucial to learning is not yet back to pre—pandemic levels, and this is meaning that disabled children are falling further behind their peers and there isa further behind their peers and there is a risk to their longer term development. you honestly like learning, don't you? no, i hate maths. fair enough, we've always got a subject. jacob in -- as long as others in his position are desperate to get back to school. it is heartbreaking for us, time is incredibly precious, to think he has spent so much time out of school is just wrong. the children's minister has written an open letter to all families with disabled children to reassure her education is her top priority. if jacob was to write a

bucket list, number one would be to go to school, and that for me is so wrong, so, so wrong. he should be dreaming big dreams and wishing for great things, not for something he is actually fundamentally entitled to. we are going to be joined by viewers on bbc very shortly for coverage of the latest downing street briefing. that will be led at five o'clock by the prime minister, no doubt talking about the approval of the pfizer vaccine. said they tuned for that. now it is time for a look at the weather forecast with darren bett. the weather has been telling koruna darren bett. the weather has been telling koru na today darren bett. the weather has been telling koruna today in parts of the uk in the north—west, and that has been bringing in showers will stop still a patchy band of rain to clear parts of the uk, this evening. 0nce that goes, the showers will turn increasingly wintry in scotland and northern ireland and we will have some icy conditions with a first more likely. maybe not quite as cold for england and wales. later the cloud will be thickening, wet weather coming into wales in the

south—west, and gradually that will spill its way to most of england and wales during thursday, with some snow developing over the hills of wales. the norther england for a while it could be brighter with a few wintry showers, they tend to get pushed away, so for many it will be turning dry and sunny but it will be a cold day, temperaturesjust above freezing, highest temperature along the south of england. for all of us thrust their week it will feel colder and the weather turning and settled. for many, rain, could be some sleet and we are likely to have some sleet and we are likely to have some snow over the hills.

but we are building up to the latest coronavirus briefing from downing street. let's take a look at our latest headlines. pfizer's latest vaccine has been given the go—ahead for roll—out next week. tougher to restrictions are now in place across england is the second national lockdown has come to an if you have a negative covid—19 test, you will now be able to visit loved ones living in care homes. after 266 long days, the return of fans to english league football is finally here, but the number of supporters will be limited.