this is bbc news. i'm kasia madera. the headlines at eight... families left grieving. more than 60,000 people have now died in the uk with coronavirus. 79—year—old mickey morris died within a week of falling ill. it will take us as individuals and family members and other country and asa family members and other country and as a whole world a long time to recover something like this. four people have been killed after a blast at a water treatment site near bristol this morning — police have declared a major incident. a levels and gcse's will go ahead in england next summer but there'll be more generous marking and advance notice of exam topics to make up for all the disruption. the premier league has agreed

a 250 million pound rescue package for lower league clubs in england — to stop them from going out of business — due to the pandemic. welcome. the grim milestone was reached on the day that the first doses more than 60,000 people have now died in the uk with coronavirus. the grim milestone was reached on the day that the first doses of the newly approved pfizer vaccine are expected to arrive in the uk from belgium. the first phase of the roll out should begin next week. england's deputy chief medical 0fficer, professorjonathan van tam, says 99% of covid—19 deaths could be prevented, if there's a very high uptake ofjabs in the most vulnerable groups. here's our health editor, hugh pym.

he was the soulmate to my grandmother, he was my best friend. he put a smile on anyone's faces he met and he brought sunshine on the rainy days. 0livia remembers happier times with her grandad, gary. he died in hospital with covid. he did have underlying health issues but he was just 61. it was his funeral on tuesday. before he passed away, we were able to say goodbye on facetime. and as much as it was lovely we were able to say goodbye that way, i just wish we were able to hold his hand and let him know it was ok. mickey died last month, after being diagnosed with covid. his family say he'll be much missed in the community. his daughter—in—law, anna, said he was a local bristol legend. the speed of it, the shock of it has left us all absolutely devastated. we're reeling from it. we can't believe it's happened. he was larger than life and i always say i thought he would outlive all of us. all this a reminder of the cruel reality of covid and why vaccine

doses like these are so important. some have been in transit to the uk on eurotunnel from the manufacturer pfizer's plant in belgium. phase one of the uk roll—out will start next week and health leaders are encouraged. if we can get through the phase one and it's a highly effective vaccine and there is very, very high uptake, then we could, in theory, take out 99% of hospitalisations and deaths. some major hospitals, like this one, have been designated as vaccine centres. it's understood that the policy in england will require them to prioritise patients who are 80 or over, for example those coming in for appointments. nhs staff and care home workers will be invited in for theirjabs. the first minister said scotland's vaccinations would start on tuesday. that will be a significant landmark in our collective struggle against the virus and although we still have

difficult months ahead, the awareness that vaccination is starting will, i'm sure, make many of us feel more hopeful as we enter the christmas period. for the families of mickey and gary, there are mixed feelings after news that the vaccine is about to become a reality. he was only 61. maybe he could have had longer and i can't look at the vaccine knowing we couldn't save him. it's too late for him. you know, i can only implore everybody who is offered the vaccine to take it because you do not want to find yourself or a precious loved family member like mickey in a similar situation. the vaccine is on its way. military and nhs staff have been setting up specialist hubs, like this one at ashton gate stadium in bristol, but the wider population may have to wait a little while to get their chance to have it. hugh pym, bbc news. so the first doses of the vaccine

are starting to arrive here. but government scientists say restrictions on our lives will still be needed for several months — if not longer. 0ur science editor david shukman reports on the new vacccines — and the way ahead. a gloomy afternoon, though at least there's now a pathway out of the pandemic, with the prospect of the first vaccine to keep people safe. so, what questions remain unanswered? well, the first is, how long will immunity last after you have been vaccinated? well, that's still not clear. studies show that the injections, three weeks apart, massively reduce the severity of the disease but scientists don't know if that protection keeps going. we have no clear idea at the moment about how long natural immunity, so immunity following the infection with the virus, or indeed immunity that has been generated through vaccination, how long it will last. we would certainly hope it will last several months, if not years.

so, it's possible we'll an annual vaccination, need as with the winter flu. all this has to be worked out. next, will the vaccine stop the spread of the virus? if you've had the vaccine, you could still carry the virus without knowing and maybe pass it to people around you if they've yet to have theirjabs. that's because the vaccine will be injected into the arm to create antibodies to fight the effects of the disease. but the virus itself may still be present in the nose and throat. so, it's possible that someone vaccinated may be able to infect others. no one can yet be sure. it could be that the vaccination could allow the virus to carry on replicating in the nose but not actually causing symptoms and that could mean that, actually, you can still be a vector, despite having been vaccinated and despite being personally protected. then there's the question of how many people need to have the vaccine.

the more infectious the virus, the more it matters to get a high proportion of the population vaccinated — at least 90% for measles, more like 66% for covid. the more people who can receive the vaccine and get it, the less the virus has a chance to spread in the community and therefore, we minimise the risk to those vulnerable people in whom the vaccine does not really work as well as it might. so, getting the vaccine once it's available is something you can really do to help protect other people, as well as protecting yourself. so, everything hinges on making sure as many people as possible say yes to the vaccine and until they've had it, to keep following the guidance about staying safe. david shukman, bbc news. the latest government figures show new infections continuing to fall, there were 14,879 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period.

the average number of new cases reported per day in the last week, is now 14,408. 1,395 people had been admitted to hospital on average each day over the week to last friday. 4,414 deaths were reported, that's people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. that means on average in the past week, 441 deaths were announced every day. it takes the total number of deaths so far across the uk to 60,113. 0ur health editor hugh pym has more on grim milestone of 60,000 deaths and the vaccine rollout. at westminster, the optimistic view from ministers is some form of normality will

return after easter. in other words, the spring of next year. in the meantime, it will need some sort of restrictions to bring the transmission rate right down, to cut case number cut the number of deaths we are seeing. it will all depend on the roll—out of the vaccine, how successful as it is, as we had from jonathan van tam, what the take—up is up is and what extent it protects the most vulnerable out there, particularly elderly people and those with underlying conditions. we will have to see how it works out. in the meantime, we have this depressing figure of 60,000 deaths in the uk, deaths within 28 days of a positive test. there is a wider measure including everyone who died with covid on their death certificate and that is more than 70,000. the uk, sadly, the death rate per 100,000 of the population is right up there among the highest of the leading economies, below only spain and italy. so there are hopes for the future with the vaccine but this is the sobering reality right now.

we do have more on a website and just to clarify, the first batch of vaccines are not in the uk. we will keep you updated. a lot more on our website. four people have died and one other has been injured after an explosion at a waste water treatment works in avonmouth near bristol. fire crews and police were called to the site of the blast this morning. jon kay has more. 11:20am and a major incident, just a quarter of a mile from the m5 motorway. a large explosion in one of the giant tanks at this sewage treatment works, run by wessex water. there was like a gentle whoosh at first, followed by an extremely loud explosion. this lorry driver was delivering goods at the time and got trapped on the neighbouring site. it sounded like a large collapse of something. it was not like a sound i had heard before. i didn't know what it was.

pure confusion. nobody knew what the situation was. teams from six fire stations across bristol raced to the scene but this evening, it emerged that this was no longer a rescue operation. sadly, despite the best efforts of all those involved, we can confirm there have been four fatalities. this includes three employees of wessex water and one contractor. a fifth person has been taken to hospital but their injuries are not thought to be life—threatening. police are promising a thorough investigation involving several agencies. but they say the incident is not believed to be terror—related and there's no risk to the wider public. jawad was working at a warehouse a mile away. i said straightaway it is an explosion because i was in my office and i felt it. you felt it? yes, like shaking, you know. that must have been terrifying? yeah, yeah. it was a really bad moment for everyone, the workers here. in a statement tonight,

wessex water described the incident as tragic, saying staff are absolutely devastated. jon kay, bbc news, avonmouth. the headlines on bbc news... the official number of people to die in the uk after testing postive for covid—19 has passed sixty—thousand. four people have been killed after a blast at a water treatment site near bristol this morning — police have declared a major incident. a levels and gcse‘s will go ahead in england next summer but there'll be more generous marking and advance notice of exam topics to make up for all the disruption. let's get a full round up of all the sports. let's go to kt in the bbc sport centre. thank you. good evening. —— katie. the premier league and english football league have agreed a multi million pound

rescue package for club struggling because of the coronavirus pandemic. they have been forced to play the match behind closed doors and they have suffered badly. 0ur sports editor dan rowen has this report. after months of wrangling at a gun at the extra time today finally the result many in the game were hoping for. —— it had gone into extra time. the premier league agreed and approved funding rescue package that means a quarter of £1 billion bailout for clubs like these in the cash—strapped english football league. under the terms of the deal come the top flight have agreed to pay £15 million to help the efl secure a £200 million loan for a championship club. capped at £8 million for club. a £50 million rescue package from leaks wanted to is split, 30 million is an immediate grant with a further 20 megan and what is called a monitored grant that clubs can apply for a stop here and leak one wrong still, no fan since march and being in tier 3 yet to be allowed to reopen their turnstile and today's deal means they will receive a minimum payment

of £375,000 was up for club light right still, it probably is less than two months of our normal regular outgoing. it is a great thing to have. not appearing to be ungrateful but honest own, it won't be enough to ensure the survival of all of the clubs and leak one into. chelsea were the biggest finish the summer chelsea were the biggest finish the summer ina chelsea were the biggest finish the summer in a transfer window that saw premier league clubs slash out more than £1 billion. the government insisted that it improved the top of the game was wealthy enough to support the lower lea ks the game was wealthy enough to support the lower leaks to the pandemic and tonight held the agreement. fans can take comfort now that there clubs are secure and they can also take comfort with the fact that some tears can start seeing the game being played again and can move beyond the worries about whether the game is safe through to actually starting the road to recovery. in a week that has already seen fans returning to some grounds, nine months after football was force behind closed doors, this is more positive news for clubs amid an

unprecedented financial crisis. this saga has raised big questions about the premier league responsibility for the rest of the game. today will not solve everything but it is a rare moment of unity and a fractured sport. —— in a fractured sport. arsenalfans are sport. —— in a fractured sport. arsenal fans are watching their team for the first time since lockdown and march with that as for the north london rivals who they take on on sunday, tottenham, the art to the knockout stage of the europa league. after getting a draw in austria. they had gone behind by a penalty from gareth bale and then this put them to went up. they were pegged back. but they went again. this time through dele alli. the penalty before the equaliser. they made it three all come a point was all they needed to go through but they had dropped it to second in the group behind at the borough. leicester already made the next round but lost one mill. brendan rogers's side was

the finished top of the group if they beat athens in their last game. celtic couldn't qualify and lost again despite going to— zero up at ac milan. the second inside the first 15 minutes —— 2—0. but milan fought back, leveling before half—time. and then added two more in the second half. that is just one point in five europa league games for the scottish champions and more pressure building under manager neil lennon. as you can see all europa league scores here, tottenham 23 all. arsenal are currently up. leicester city is down. ac milan is meeting celtic. at the rangers trail by a goal. that is all sport for now. more of course throughout the

evening. goodbye for now. thank you. we will catch up with you later. as brexit talks continue, we've heard things might not be going as quite as planned this evening. 0ur political correspondent, helen catt, is in westminster. what, it is never going to have been easy given where we are with all of this but when are you hearing with regards to what has been discussed and what has not been discussed tonight? brexit has been dramatic in every stage but there's a bit of a tone of pessimism coming out from the uk side this evening. singing uk government sources told the bbc that a breakthrough is still possible in the next few days but the prospect is receding and they claimed that the 11th hour the eu is bringing new elements into the negotiations. what they mean by that we don't know and what they mean by the new elements we know that the issues that have been sticking points throughout these talks were things like the allocation of fishing rights, about competition rules, the eu was

concerned that the uk would have access to the single market but without being able to give companies a boost from an unfair advantage as they see it come back of fishing, they see it come back of fishing, the uk says the eu has not been recognising it will be an independent coastal state after the transition period and we know there's been disagreements throughout how the things that have been agreed will be a reinforcer we know those are the the ongoing issues, talks went on late into the night last night and do to go on late into the nights again tonight. beyond that, we simply cannot know whether this pessimism is a real sense that things have taken a major downturn, is that the theatrics of negotiations tactics? we simply can't know because of this stage what is going on inside of that building and those toxins very tightly under wraps. either way, building and those toxins very tightly underwraps. eitherway, it does feel like things are moving towards a conclusion and there are only so many days left until the end of the transition period, so i think we will find out in the coming days. my we will find out in the coming days. my understanding is michel barnier will be going back to brussels

tomorrow. it is friday. was that a lwa ys tomorrow. it is friday. was that always expected or something that has just always expected or something that hasjust come always expected or something that has just come up after this souring of mood and tone? i think it was already expected that it is what he would do. we are hearing that the eu is bringing forward new negotiators this evening and talks are continuing so i think that was an expected thing rather than any dramatic as a result as what we hear this evening and beyond that we cannot really know exactly what is going on but certainly slightly more ofa going on but certainly slightly more of a tone of pessimism this evening. to bea of a tone of pessimism this evening. to be a fly on the wall. as always, thank you for bringing us up—to—date with what we sue sorted boot no. —— with what we sue sorted boot no. —— with what we do sort of know. the government has announced an easing of quarantine restrictions for some business travellers to england. those making trips that benefit british business and the economy will now avoid having to quarantine when arriving. others who qualify for exemption include artists and sports professionals. gcses and a levels will go ahead in england next summer.

but there'll be a range of special measures because of the disruption to pupils education, including more generous grades. schools with get further details on how exams will be slimmed down in january. but there are concerns that different levels of disruption around the country will be hard to take into account. meanwhile in wales all exams have been cancelled. in scotland pupils will only sit highers and advanced highers. in northern ireland though — all exams will go ahead. here's our education editor, bra nwen jeffreys. building theirfuture job prospects, back after a two—week school closure. in the medway towns of kent, more than half of all secondary pupils were home last week. even so, harry, danieland joseph all want to sit their gcse exams. it would allow us to know our potential, know what we have accomplished because it is a moment in our lives.

the majority of the year has been wasted on lockdown and we haven't had that much time to fully educate ourselves, in terms of gcses. i feel like employers, they might think that these are like fake grades if we're given higher, so they might pick someone else for a job. gcse and a—level exams in 2021 will be made easier, with more generous grading, advance notice of topics and some study aids allowed — measures, the government says, will make exams fair. everyone in all of our schools and colleges is working as hard as they can to make sure that no pupil loses out because of covid and that the future they are dreaming of is still very much within their reach. i'm determined that the coronavirus is not going to jeopardise the life chances of this year's pupils. he'll need to convince parents. these mums have kids taking exams next year. it's the fairness of it.

if you're going to change different things, are you going to change that for next year? why didn't you change it for last year's students? no matter what happens, there's going to be someone who's not happy. they're like the covid results, the covid students, they're not... it's not the same as what's been gone before and i think they will be judged either way if, you know, if it's a bit low or a bit high, people will look at it with suspicion, perhaps. this school, like many others, is taking all the government help on offer, like the laptop scheme. it's waiting to hear if it will get support from the national tutoring fund. but there are fears of more disruption in the new year and even with all these measures, time between now and the exams is increasingly tight. in terms of is that enough? it's worrying. there are a few months left until exams start and i would love

to see a further measure, perhaps a reduction in the number of exams. that could go some way to help and, you know, allay some fears right now. also, the topics. we need to know the topics as specifically as possible, as soon as possible. and what if their school closes again? a promise the government will look at lost learning but no solution yet on how to take it into account. branwenjeffreys, bbc news, chatham. on new year's eve — england, scotland and wales will leave the eu's single market for goods. northern ireland effectively won't. and whatever happens with a brexit trade deal, the eu's customs rules will also continue to apply at ports in northern ireland. neither the eu nor the uk wanted to restore a hard border on the island of ireland — given the troubles of the past. at the moment there are hardly any

checks on goods travelling between great britain and northern ireland. but from january first there will be new rules governing trade across the irish sea, and additional checks will be required on many goods arriving in to northern ireland from great britain. as emma vardy reports — lots of businesses say they're unprepared for the huge changes ahead. how food gets from great britain to northern ireland is changing. it's the compromise with the eu that was agreed, for northern ireland to continue following a lot of eu rules while for the rest of the uk, that's about to end. food products, particularly of animal origin, like meat, fish and cheese, are going to need new documentation when they come into northern ireland to make sure they're 0k to enter the eu. items like pizza could need multiple certificates just for the toppings. and other goods, too, will need additional declarations to make sure eu tariffs have been paid. whether there's a trade deal or not, new checks that never existed

before will be carried out at northern ireland's ports. but many retailers are warning that added paperwork means some products could become more expensive in northern ireland than in the rest of the uk. you're talking about cost rises on everyday items, quite simply, 70% of the value of everything that crosses the irish sea is for retailers‘ shelves. but even those things that are produced in northern ireland, either packaging or ingredients, will come from great britain too. eu and uk officials are still trying to agree ways to iron out issues over the irish sea border. but for food distributors, there are still a lot of unanswered questions about exactly how it's going to work. we've almost three weeks to go, we don't have any formal government guidance at this point, so it's very difficult for us as a company and even our suppliers to plan. low marginal goods could disappear from our shelves. and it's notjust food shopping that's affected. manufacturers in northern ireland that import raw materials will also face new red tape. i think one of our concerns as a small business is that there's going to be additional

and onerous paperwork required. as a small business, which a lot of northern ireland businesses are, we certainly wouldn't be able to pass any additional cost on to our customers. the government has set up a trader support service to help companies moving goods across the irish sea. but the national audit office has warned that systems are unlikely to be ready to make everything happen smoothly in time forjanuary. border officials have promised to go easy on traders at first. we're acutely aware that there are many traders who are going to be entirely new to these processes, but we will of course want to be sympathetic to traders in the early days of this regime, who are trying to do the right thing but are not kind of clear exactly what they're needing to do. agreements the uk and eu may arrive at in the coming days could solve some of the red tape. but whatever happens, northern ireland is on course for one of the most radical changes

to a part of the uk for decades. emma vardy, bbc news, belfast. asda, sainsbury‘s and aldi say they'll hand back almost a billion pounds in business rates relief to the government. tesco and morrisons made similar announcements yesterday. retailers were given the rates holiday because of the first lockdown. but supermarkets, whose sales have boomed in the crisis, were criticised for taking government help while paying dividends to shareholders. some grocers, including marks and spencer, say they won't repay the money. i'll be back very shortly but let's look at the weather with darren. hello. it's been a cold day today and we had rain for england and wales and showers following at the west wales in the southwest overnight but heavier rain returning into the southeast of england and east anglia and other wet weather in northern england will spill its way into scotla nd england will spill its way into scotland into the cold air and we will find snow following in many parts of the country. snow for a while across the northern pennines.

i see while across the northern pennines. isee in while across the northern pennines. i see in frosty across much of scotla nd i see in frosty across much of scotland and northern ireland. patchy frost for england and wales. the money could bring travel disruption in scotland with snow, mainly over the higher roots and turning to rain and then the rain continuing that could lead to flooding. wet weather and windy weather driving to northern ireland, drying off in the southeast of england at the rain and sleet moves into northern england. but sunshine in the afternoon to the midlands in southern england and a cold day everywhere in stronger ones making it feel colder. 0ver everywhere in stronger ones making it feel colder. over the weekend the winds gradually eased down in the weather weather starts to pull away and it becomes drier but it is still cold.

hello, this is bbc news. the headlines. the official number of people to die in the uk after testing die postive for covid—19 has passed 60,000. the initial delivery of the pfizer coronavirus vaccine

has arrived in the uk. right four people have been killed after a blast at a water treatment site near bristol this morning — police have declared a major incident. a levels and gcses will go ahead in england next summer but there'll be more generous marking and advance notice of exam topics to make up for all the disruption. the premier league has agreed a £250 million rescue package for lower league clubs in england — to stop them from going out of business due to the pandemic. more now on the news that over 60,000 people in the uk have now died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. in the latest figures released by the government. the uk has recorded 14,879 coronavirus cases and 414 deaths in the past 24 hours.

this takes the total number of deaths to 60,113. only the us, brazil, india and mexico have recorded more deaths than the uk, according tojohns hopkins university. we can speak to devi sridhar, professor of global public health at the university of edinburgh. good of you to join good of you tojoin us, it is good of you to join us, it is very stark day for this country. what do you make of where you are given that in april, worst—case scenario from the government was 50,000 deaths and today we passed 60,000?m the government was 50,000 deaths and today we passed 60,000? it is absolutely tragic to have lost these many lives but as well, to be facing one of the worst —— biggest economic responses in europe. something has not gone right under will be a time to look back and see what decisions

we re to look back and see what decisions were made and how could we have done better so this never happens again. we have the fifth highest death rate in the world, how do we compare, what is your assessment of how we compare with other nations?m what is your assessment of how we compare with other nations? it is pretty bad, look at the other regions, asia and the pacific, very low deaths, the low hundreds some the dozens. looking at the united states, that is a complete mess under president trump, an uncontrolled epidemic and the same in brazil. african countries have done very well given how low resource they are. it is really america and europe which has taken the biggest hit from these pandemics and have ta ken the biggest hit from these pandemics and have taken an economic hit as well. if we look at asian countries, vietnam, singapore, what were they

doing that the uk and us have not been doing? they did three things, they treated this like an event you could eliminate. they did not want to live with the virus, they wanted to live with the virus, they wanted to suppress it to the lowest level so to suppress it to the lowest level so they could open their economy fully. first they monitored their borders, they had very good test and trace and isolation at the start and third offering good guidance to the public about why you do not want to catch it and how to avoid it. we seem catch it and how to avoid it. we seem not to learn the lesson because our test and trace seems not to work and there is confusion about whether you should get it whether you are young or old. there seems to be an elite problem. it seems madness we ke pt elite problem. it seems madness we kept our airports open and allowed people to go on holiday and now there are categories of people, if

you're rich enough, you do not have to quarantine. it is really easy to look at what they did in asia and say what can be adapted here? when it comes to the age of the population, how does that impact how a country deals with this? if you have a younger population and healthier population, it helps because we know the risk factors are being elderly, overweight, having diabetes and hypertension. as well as coming from a deprived background so as coming from a deprived background so any quality really kills in this sense. those countries which have managed to deal with underlying health issues have done better but it does not get away from the facts, the more cases you have in community spread you have, the more illness you will have and the more deaths. that is what we have seen in brazil and the united states, huge numbers of cases which unfortunately will translate into hospitalisations and then sadly deaths. we are talking

about the uk being the first country rolling out and approving a vaccine, we have the pfizer vaccine. what kind of role will that have in reducing deaths potentially? how hopeful are you? i am really hopeful. this vaccine has been trialled, pfizer went out to 40,000 people and there is no serious adverse effect and usually effective in stopping corbett 19 and that is what we need right now to prevent deaths. we have a high level of infection, we have a couple of deaths every day so time is of the essence. we delay making a decision, thatis essence. we delay making a decision, that is the cost of lives and they could have got a vaccine out to the people who could have been infected in the next couple of weeks and weeks and months and prevent them dying. it is quite positive for the next few weeks to get through this period while we form a more

sustainable containment strategy. thank you very much for speaking to us and giving out your insight. thank you. as the first doses of the pfizer vaccine make their way to the uk, england's deputy chief medical 0fficerjonathan van—tam joined us on bbc news earlier today to answer your questions. it was a special edition of your call on bbc radio 5 live with rachel burden and your questions answered with annita mcveigh here on the bbc news channel. welcome to this special edition of your call on bbc radio 5 live and your questions answered on the bbc news channel. i am rachel burden. and i am annita mcveigh. good morning to you, and to the listeners. good to be with you today. we will try and get through as many of the questions about how the vaccine works and how it will be distributed and what it might mean for your life. good morning professor jonathan van—tam, thank

you for your time this morning. before we start, can i just start by checking is it, professor, jvt, professor van—tam, what does your mother call you? well, she calls mejonny. but you can call me whatever you like, i will answer you. i think professor is probably appropriate for us this morning. we will start off with henrietta. good morning to you henrietta. you are the co—owner of a care home, what would you like to ask? good morning. as you can imagine, we are eagerly anticipating the arrival of the vaccine, however given the speed of the vaccine development and the fact that we are the only country so far satisfied with its safety and of course a lot of negative messaging on social media, some of our staff and residents' families have some anxiety about the vaccine being given to them or their loved ones. how would you reassure them that the vaccine is safe

for them and residents, some of whom may be very frail. 0k, thank you. i completely understand the anxieties. i think what i would do is tackle this in three ways. number one, to tell you plain and straight that i genuinely have said to my, you know, 78—year—old mum, who is probably listening now that, mum, you must have this vaccine or any of the vaccines that mhra approves as they had available. this is really important because you are so at—risk. so that is a kind of personal peice, if you like. i am very confident in the assessments that mhra make. the next piece is, if you witnessed the press briefing from the mhra, from professor lim from the joint committee

on vaccination and immunisation and dr raine from mhra, and professor sir munir pirmohamed from the commission on human medicines yesterday, it was as superb and astonishing briefing which really brought out the thoroughness, the rigour and the caution with which each of these bodies, committees and agencies have taken towards getting this right. i looked at the screen and i thought, between them, there is more than 100 years of medical experience there, gathered in one place, passing on the wisdom of the work that they have done with the teams behind them. i thought that was really impressive. and on the point of us being first, i started focusing on getting vaccines for the uk back in march.

it began with a series of phone calls between myself and the government chief scientific adviser. it was before the formation of the vaccine task force. the task force have done a brilliant brilliant job. that is how early we thought about this and how soon we began to mobilise thinking about how we could get these vaccines because we felt, if they came along, they may well turn the tide in some way so we were very organised. you know, i don't actually think the us or the european regulators will be very many days behind us in authorising the pfizer vaccine. i really don't. thank you so much. so many questions about safety so it was really important we kicked off with that one.

our thanks to henrietta in teignmouth. professor van—tam, thanks to you and us at the news channel as well. lots of comments from viewers coming in. they praised your communication. one of the things you spoke about two weeks ago was the mum test, you were talking about your own mum and you were on the phone to her and said if she got a cold, go for the vaccine. to make sure she was right there at the front of the queue. and the next question, we have concerns mums. actually, it's from claire who asks both my 90—year—old mother and 94—year—old mother in law live in their own home. will they be prioritized as one of the first to get the vaccine the same as elderly who are in care homes, and how will they get it? thank you for the question. it's a very important question. so the joint committee on vaccination and immunization jcvi, is completely independent,

but the government takes its advice extremely seriously and follows it, frankly. now, the top priority that thejcvi's identified are care homes for older people and also the workers in care homes. and the reason for that is that the death toll in care homes has been awful in the first wave. and we want to stop people dying. and it is notjust about the people in the care homes. it is the fact that they are concentrated together, lots of vulnerable people living together. that is one of the factors. it is very true that the two relatives that your caller mentioned who are going to be really at very substantial risk from coronavirus because of their age, if they're living on their own and they're not

living in the same conditions as in a care home where spread from one to another can occur, and that is different epidemiologically. nevertheless, the next priority group are everybody aged 80 and over. and your two relatives will definitely be part of that. and i expect actually there to be some blending of priority one and priority two in the real life deployment of the vaccine. and that's because it doesn't make any sense to kind of go well, very strictly until we've done every last care home. we're not going to touch anybody who's 80 and above who's not in the care home. it doesn't work that way. several things play into that. one is that we can't waste vaccine.

number two is that the bigger principle is go as fast as you can, the volumes you can to get people protected. and so, yes, they are absolutely eligible now. there is a technical issue related to the pfizer vaccine that we currently expect to receive very, very shortly in the u.k., and i do mean hours, not days, then, you know, there is a technical issue related to the cold storage, and it does have to be held because it's quite, quite a friable, delicate vaccine. it has to be held at minus 70, which is ultra, ultra deep freeze. and once it comes out of minus 70 to defrost, it has to be stored at two to eight degrees centigrade, which is normalfridge temperature. and that sounds like kind of dead simple. and i think i use the yogurt analogy yesterday at number ten at the press briefing, but this is where the similarity ends. it's not like a yogurt that you can

just take out of the fridge and put back in the fridge and take out of the fridge and put back in the fridge. and it kind of doesn't matter. it's still fine to eat in this place. 0k. this is one where there are strict rules about the number of times that the vaccine can be taken out of the fridge and moved into what we call ambient room temperatures. and so it is going to make it very, very difficult, in fact, not viable to take it into individual people's homes. if they are housebound. however, they will be able to go to that mass vaccination centers or hospitals according to a system that i don't have the details that the nhs is working on. but hopefully we would get

the the astrazeneca, that 0xford vaccine quite soon. can i ask about that, professor van? because i wanted to finish this. i need to finish this point. no, sorry. no, go ahead. go ahead. i'm going to finish that one can be held at two to eight degrees all the way through. and it's much easier to split into smaller quantities and probably can go into people's homes. i was just going to ask on the oxford one, i was getting a little bit excited there because there is some discussion that that might be given approval before christmas. can you give us any indication about that one? i am hopeful again that that would happen, but it's entirely out of my hands. it's in the hands of the regulator, the mhra, with, you know, they take a very firm line and we take a very firm line that they are independent, that they must do what they do in their own time. and if that takes them a few weeks, that's fine. if it has to take them a few months because they've got to ask further questions or they need a piece more data from the manufacturer, that's also fine.

we go at the speed of science on that one, we do not rush them in any way, shape orform. that's utterly wrong because they have to get it right on effectiveness, efficacy. they have to get it right on safety and they have to get it right on the quality of the manufacture of the product as well. all three have got to be right, otherwise we don't do it. i want to bring in sarah in stockport now, who's the head teacher at inscape house school, which is a special needs school for children with autism. and sarah, just tell us about your particular concerns. what would you like to ask? thanks very much. hello, professor. hello. it's very kind of you to take a question. yeah, i work in a school for children with autism and young people with autism, like all children across the country that have had severe disruption to their education over the last 12 months. and that and it continues listening to the news this morning about the insistence

of our government to continue with exams next summer. it just puts an awful lot of staff and children and feel quite anxious about what's to come. so to help address the teachers and school staff likely to be prioritised for the vaccine, and if so, what timescales can there be? what can we expect? but i'm also interested in children, young people with disabilities and who have been severely impacted, not just through the disruption in their education, but also through the loss of additional support and respite that they've had since march. and so, will parents and carers of children with disabilities be able to be prioritised for the vaccine also to try and get some normality and routine back into their lives? yes, ok, so let's chop the question up into two parts. the first part was about teachers, i believe. is that right? yes, yes. yes. ok, so thejcvi phase one priority

list is all about the eliminating or getting down to very low levels deaths and hospitalizations due to covid—19. and for that reason, it is very, very highly focused. first of all, on care homes, then on age, in decreasing order down to the age of 50 and also blended in, there are adults of all ages who are clinically extremely vulnerable and have been told they are. as part of that programme or who have at risk conditions, typically the kind of at risk conditions that we use to pick out people for flu vaccination every autumn. there are no occupational groups on the phase one list and if we can get through the phase one, and it's a highly effective vaccine and there is very, very high uptake then we could,

in theory, take out 99% of hospitalizations and deaths related to covid—19 so that you can see that's why that, that's why the phase one list is what it is. that's the primary ambition. but it's a completely irrelevant question that we can't decide on yet because we don't have the data about how these vaccines will perform in real life. but it's very much on government's mind that we'll need to make some decisions about how to go further, whether to go further, and they will be ministerial decisions. and jcvi has identified that that second part of the programme could take into account, could take into account occupations, potentially. but if you are a teacher and you have an at risk condition, you're going to be called in your place in the order in phase one. if you're a teacher who's 58 years

of age, you're going to be called in your place in phase one. so it's not kind of all or nothing. and then on the point about children with learning disabilities and other special needs, thejcvi has already identified and i don't go around memorizing the lists. so you'll have to forgive me that i don't have it all instantly at my fingertips. but i absolutely know that children with...adults with profound learning disabilities, severe learning disabilities and with down syndrome are absolutely on the list. and that's been a careful pick through byjcvi to really look in great detail who is at risk amongst the adult population from this disease.

anthony fauci, the us infectious diseases expert, has criticised the uk's swift approval of the pfizer vaccine against covid—19, dr fauci said the uk has not applied the same level of scrutiny as the us. the united states of america food and drug administration is the gold standard of regulation. they are doing it in a very careful way, appropriately, because if we did anything that was cutting corners and rushing, we have enough problem with people being sceptical about taking a vaccine anyway. if we had jumped over the hurdles here quickly and inappropriately to gain an extra week or a week and a half, i think that the credibility of our regulatory process would have been damaged. i love the brits, they are great, they are good scientists but they just took the data from the pfizer company and instead of scrutinising it really, really carefully they said,

ok, let's approve it, that's it and they went with it. lots more on that on our website. panto season is upon us. despite the new restrictions some theatres are managing to open their doors for what is a highlight of the year for many children. but in some areas under the strictest measures, the show simply can't go on. in others, thousands of people have had their tickets suddenly cancelled because futher social distancing measures has meant theatres can't get as many people in. 0ur arts editor will gompertz reports. # never lose your way. #. beverley knight is rehearsing her big number. while julian clary goes through his 12 days of christmas for their show, pantoland. a place many producers feel like they are currently living in. one minute, it seems, oh, yes, you can open your show and the next it's, oh,

no, you can't. well, because of the fortnightly review, it's the scariest thing. you can have a show that at the moment can't go ahead, so you cancel, then the tiers get reviewed and they go down a tier, and you go, oh, we could have delivered that show. we could have created all of those jobs, we could have opened the theatre. 0n the flip side, a venue that's in tier 2, you proceed, a fortnight goes by and they go up to tier 3 and you have to close the show. it's producing in the dark. there is no doubt that the new rules and restrictions have caused confusion and frustration for theatre producers across the country, many of whom have had to shut shows before they've even opened them. but it's more complicated than that. even for a tier 2 theatre, such as the london palladium behind me, which has been selling tickets to its show for weeks, it now finds that many of those people who bought those tickets live in tier 3 areas, so they have to be identified, the tickets

have to be cancelled, refunded and then resold to people living in tier 2 and tier 1. it is a total nightmare if you're running the box office. the royal shakespeare company in stratford—upon—avon had a hit last christmas with the boy in the dress, but it's had to cancel this year's production because it's found itself in tier 3, although the town has relatively few covid cases. we're really disappointed that we've been put into tier 3 here in south warwickshire in stratford—upon—avon and have had to close the shows that we had prepared pre and post—christmas and were sold out. while many theatres are unable to open in england, most remain shut in scotland and all are closed in wales and northern ireland. venue owners say they've invested heavily to make their auditoria covid—secure and that they are safe spaces. the uk government said it had made progress by allowing some live performances and the vaccine roll—out should provide a path back to normality. will gompertz, bbc news.

let us hope the show does go on. now it's time for a look at the weather. hello there. it's been a cold day everywhere today, we've got another wintry mix of weather to come tonight and into tomorrow. certainly a wintry scene here in highland scotland, some parts of scotland temperatures didn't really get much above freezing. for england and wales it was cold, it was wet, and it was miserable. a lot of clouds streaming in from off the atlantic. these shower clouds though are coming down. we will see a stream of showers for west wales and the southwest of england. this area of cloud here will probably take some whether weather into the southeast of england and east anglia, and the wet weather that we are seeing across northern england will spill its way into scotland as that moves inland into that icy cold. so we are going to find snow falling in many places, some more snow over the northern pennines for a while. and a widespread frost and ice in scotland and northern ireland, a patchy frost in a really, for england and wales. into the morning and snow could be a problem in

scotland early on in the day. some disruption mainly to the high—level routes, there will be some snow to low levels for a while, but i think it will quickly turn to rain. and then rain could be a problem for the day, particularly in eastern scotland. some heavy rain bringing some flooding. and the stronger winds will push the rain into northern ireland. gales along the north coast. for england and wales the wet weather clears to the southeast of east anglia, moves up into northern england. still a bit sleety and maybe some snow over the pennines, but for the midlands and southern england it does become a lot drier. maybe some sunshine. it's a cold day, though, and it will feel colder because the winds are going to be stronger. stronger winds around the area of low pressure, that's bringing the wet weather. that will slide away over the weekend into france, and gradually over the weekend and will turn drier and quieter with the winds easing as well. but we are still in the cold air. temperatures are not going to improve. and we've still got the wet weather around on saturday. particularly for england and wales, it may be some sleet and snow over the peak district, the welsh hills. and we got some whether weather coming into eastern parts of

scotland. northern ireland, eastern areas of england should become drier and a bit brighter as well. those temperatures still struggling to five to 7 degrees. 0vernight as the winds drop and the skies clear we are going to have quite a frost around. and there may well be some mist, fog and low cloud. that could linger in some central areas throughout the day, so particularly cold here. for many, though, it's going to be a dry day. most of that wet weather has gone, there will be some sunshine coming through, but it's still a cold day on sunday despite those light winds, highs of six or seven.

this is bbc news — america's top coronavirus doctor accuses the uk of cutting corners in approving the pfizer vaccine first. does the transatlantic row risk undermining public confidence in the vaccine, which is already which is already on its way to britain? dr fauci takes aim at the uk's regulator, claiming it wasn't as rigorous as the us in its vaccine approval process. we'll ask dr fauci live what he's basing his accusations on— that's coming up in the next few minutes. in america, the coronavirus outbreak is shattering records — there are more than 14 million cases here, over 100,000 people are in hospital, and nearly 3000 died of covid—19 on wednesday. also in the programme...