this is bbc news, i'm simon mccoy. the headlines at 2... the prime minister says 2.4 million people across the uk have now been vaccinated against coronavirus — but urges people to stick to the rules. we cannot be complacent of the worst thing now would be for oz to allow success thing now would be for oz to allow success in rolling out the vaccine programme to breed any kind of complacency about the state of the pandemic. it follows a grim warning from england's chief medical officer who says the uk is about to enter the ‘worst weeks‘ of the pandemic. i think it's really important that everybody in every interaction they have thinks, do i really need to do this? pressure mounts in washington to strip donald trump of power —

after the violent storming of congress last week. the bbc delivers its biggest—ever roll out of education resources during this lockdown — with new programmes across tv and digital. good afternoon, and welcome to bbc news. borisjohnson has said now is the moment for maximum vigilance in the coronavirus pandemic, warning that tougher restrictions may have to be imposed if people don't follow lockdown rules. the prime minister said two million people have been vaccinated so far, this as he visited a vaccination centre in bristol. it comes after england's chief medical officer warned the nhs is facing its ‘worst weeks‘ in the coronavirus crisis as the number of covid patients in hospitals is expected to rise. let‘s listen to what mrjohnson said a short while ago.

well, what we are doing here in bristol today is launching the first of the mass vaccination centres. we will have 50 of these by the end of the month, that is in addition to the month, that is in addition to the 233 hospital sites, the 1000 plus gp sites and the first to go about 200 community pharmacies and we will be ramping them all up. as i speak to you today, we have done about 2 million people, maybe a bit more, we are about 2.4 million jabs are all in across the whole of the uk and the next few days, as we get towards that target the 15th of february, 15 million we want to do, obviously the nhs is going to be ramping that up massively and still the case, as i talk to you today, that the uk has done more

vaccinations than any other country in europe, but we cannot be complacent and the worst thing now would be for us allow success in rolling out a vaccine programme, to breed any kind of complacency about the state of the pandemic, because... with the roll-out of the vaccine, if you're going to hit that target by the middle of february, huge amount of ramping up needed. the element you are correct, it's a huge ask of the nhs, the army, st john's ambulance and all the other volunteers you're seeing today, they are all coming together to deliver this and there is no doubt it is a massively stretching target. -- mike correct. is it achievable? it is achievable. we will throw absolute everything at it and put everything into it to get it done. those first four groups by the middle of

february, the over 80s come over 70s and the clinically, extremely vulnerable, workers in care homes, those groups where we want to vaccinate and today, i think i can confirm that we‘ve of the 80—year—olds in this country, vaccinated 40% of the 80—year—olds in this country so from now on, every couple of weeks, every single one of them will have a high degree of protection, we‘ve done about 23% of protection, we‘ve done about 23% of the elderly residents of care homes, you remember how important thatis, homes, you remember how important that is, inviting —— infighting coronavirus, so they will also have a very high degree of protection, but it‘s a race against time because we can all see the threat that our nhs faces, the pressure it is under, the demand in its intensive care

units, the pressure on ventilated beds, even a shortage of oxygen in some places, and we‘ve got to focus on what we all need to do to gather to bear down on the disease and follow the guidance of the nhs, stay at home, protect the nhs and save lives. we have to remember that message. professor chris whitty said this is the most dangerous time for the country and the whole pandemic. how worried are you about the spike in cases and what more do people and the government need to do to push down on the spread of this virus? what chris whitty had to say this morning was absolutely right. this isa morning was absolutely right. this is a very perilous moment because everybody can sense that the vaccine is coming in, they can see that the uk is vaccinating large numbers of those who need it most and my worry is, and chris‘s worry, is this is the moment where that could breed a

false confidence, false complacency, and that, when you look at what has happened in the nhs, that complacency is not merited. we have a really tough fight on our hands, but what we will do is of course keep the guidance and the rules under review, but more important, as chris said this morning, more important than us just pushing out new rules, people have to follow the guidance, so it is supermarkets, people need to be keeping their distance, making sure they are wearing masks, doing the right thing and supermarkets have done a fantastic job and supermarkets have done a fantasticjob during and supermarkets have done a fantastic job during this and supermarkets have done a fantasticjob during this pandemic. 0ur fantasticjob during this pandemic. our country would not have got through it without the work of supermarket but we need to enforce the rules when people are getting ta keaway the rules when people are getting takeaway drinks pain cafe is, then they need to avoid spreading the disease. but the rules are not as tight as they were back in march

when you set the first lockdown. we have a variant that is much more virulent, 50% more virulent. we have 30,000 plus people in beds in hospital, nhs under greater pressure than before. should people be expecting further lockdown measures and should you not be doing more to stamp down on this virus?|j and should you not be doing more to stamp down on this virus? i think... i really direct you back to exactly what chris said, chris whitty said earlier this morning, we will keep the rules under constant review. we had to tighten them —— if we have to tighten them, we will, but we had rules in place already which if they are properly followed, we believe they can make a huge, huge difference and it‘s now the people need to focus, they need to be... where there they are out shopping or buying of coffee in the park or whatever it happens to be, they need to think about spreading the disease and, as chris says, one contact you have can be a chain of transmission

for this disease, so now is the moment for maximum vigilance, maximum observation, observance of the rules, and of course, if we feel that things are not being properly observed, then we may have to do more, but far, far betterfor observed, then we may have to do more, but far, far better for people to obey the rules that we have than simply to put in new rules. the messages, stay at home, work from home if you can, with this be an essential journey home if you can, with this be an essentialjourney for home if you can, with this be an essential journey for yourself to make, travelling from london to bristol today? surely if the messages stay from home, work from home, why have you travelled over 100 miles today to come here? i've come because it‘s part of myjob and you‘ll know that the guidance also says that, when you shoot go to work and do yourjob, normally, if you a bsently and do yourjob, normally, if you absently have to and i think essential that i explain to the

public what we are doing to roll out the mass vaccination centres, essential that we get the message across about what is happening across about what is happening across the all of the country, but i like the spirit in which you‘re asking the question because everybody should be asking themselves whether they need to be leaving home, whether they need to be doing something that could actually end up spreading the disease. one question for original colleagues, we got this mass testing, mass vaccination centre here at ashton gate in bristol, using the oxford vaccine, why is it using the oxford vaccine, why is it using the oxford vaccine, why is it using the pfizer vaccine that has to be stored at lower temperatures and what you say to people in devon and cornwall a long way from this mass ce ntre cornwall a long way from this mass centre the roll—out of vaccinations to gps and smaller surgeries in their local areas? there is 110 gp vaccination centres just in this area, ithink

vaccination centres just in this area, i think about 18 hospital sites were distributing the vaccine initially in the centre, don‘t forget, no one is going to be more than ten miles from your vaccination centre, so we are rolling it out across the whole country and you ask about astrazeneca, the advantage of astrazeneca. .. both about astrazeneca, the advantage of astrazeneca... both vaccines are good, both are efficacious, but the advantage of astrazeneca is that you can advantage of astrazeneca is that you ca n store advantage of astrazeneca is that you can store it at room temperature, so you can use it in a lot of context, particularly in care homes, so one of the things we are really focusing on this week is ramping up the delivery of the astrazeneca vaccine into the care homes. why is it being used here when the pfizer vaccine could be stored at those —18 degrees temperatures and the astrazeneca, oxford vaccine, could be rolled out to be more local areas across...

they are both being rolled out. we are making use of supplies, all the supplies of both throughout the country and in the spring, as you know, the mir vaccine as well. our political correspondent chris mason is in westminster. he is caught between a rock and a ha rd he is caught between a rock and a hard place because there is a vaccine but the period before that and he is under pressure to do something about it. yes, the vaccine is the big medium term hope, and they can point to evidence that the roll—out is going very well, we know to people have beenjabbed at roll—out is going very well, we know to people have been jabbed at least once, 2.4 millionjobs in total have been given, surround 400,000 have had the full dose it would appear, the two doses, that were originally promised, but, as we heard there from the prime minister, that is the medium and long term hope, the

short—term picture is pretty bleak and the government, in sending out professor chris whitty, we just saw from this morning, speaking in the last 30 minutes, at the heart of that, is the government being very concerned that not enough of us are sticking to the rules as set out, and yet, there are questions to be asked of the government and in the briefing call with westminster reporters, all the questions were put at lunchtime, what about things that possible now in england that we re that possible now in england that were not possible under the restrictions last spring, so nursery schools being open, playgrounds being open, being able to go and view a house if you‘re planning a move, takeaway coffees and that kind of thing, is the government willing to shift on those? because they might encourage us to go outside when the government is saying stay at home if at all possible, and they say, number ten, that everything is kept under review, that is westminster speak for there isn‘t

any change as things stand, and also we heard this morning from keir starmer, the labour leader, who said it was extraordinary in his view that there are some things that are possible now that were not in the first lockdown in england, he wasn‘t explicit himself and saying if he was prime minister, he would immediately ban those things now, and this brings you right back to the central dilemma that the governments of the uk have faced throughout this pandemic, which is that balance between liberty and our safety, and at what point do you draw a line in the sand and make it a rule versus emphasising what the existing rules are? i think what we can be certain of in the coming days as you‘re going to see plenty more of the scientists, there is a recognition government that they are more likely to be trusted and some political leaders where loyalty might be split to a degree along party lines, but the question is, that make the question is, i suspect, will keep coming about whether we should be a further tightening because there is an a cce pta nce tightening because there is an acceptance because of the lack of people catching the virus and people

becoming symptomatic and some ending up becoming symptomatic and some ending up in hospital that, as professor whitty were saying this morning, as far as the hospital issue is concerned, things will get worse before they get better. thank you very much for that, chris. our health correspondent nick triggle is here. when things do get better, when does this come to an end and we reap the rewards of this use vaccination programme? well, after your first dose of vaccination takes a couple of weeks for immunity to start kicking in, so in the first month, and vaccination started early december, around close to1 million people were vaccinated, so they should start getting some immunity certainly by now. in the past week, we‘ve had in excess ofjust over1 million vaccinated, so it will be a couple of weeks before immunity for them starts kicking in and much will depend on how quickly the nhs can accelerate that vaccination campaign. the goal is to get to 2

million doses a week. this week could well see the nhs get close to that i‘ve been told but on top of that, you have the impact of lockdown and now currently we are seeing cases rise sharply during december and the christmas period but there are just some signs those rises are starting to slow, certainly in the london and the south—east, but that of course takes a while to translate into hospital admissions as chris was saying there, so i do not think we will see much progress before the end of january. even then, back in the spring, we saw a sharp rise and a shortfall, but all the experts are saying now we should expect a more gradual decline in cases and it won‘t be really until february only get to the point where all the over 70s are vaccinated and that age group, nearly nine in ten deaths have come in that group, it won‘t be until that point that we really see

a good progress. a lot of concern and it was expressed this morning, about the timeline between the first and second jab with scientists saying it‘s more beneficialjust to get as many people as possible getting the first jab, get as many people as possible getting the firstjab, but get as many people as possible getting the first jab, but what scientists saying? there are different views? there are, and it has really split opinion to some extent. clearly, the uk was in a very difficult position given the rapid rise in infection rates. with the oxford vaccine, the oxford astrazeneca vaccine, there is evidence from the that having the three—month delay between the first and second actually makes a vaccine more effective. three-month delay? goal three months, sorry, makes it more effective and makes that second dose a better booster. for the pfizer vaccine, the trials didn‘t

look at this. they were conducted so that people receive the vaccine after 21 days, so it isjust that people receive the vaccine after 21 days, so it is just not clear from those trials what the impact of that will be, however, what the scientists say and are clear about is, even if you lose something in terms of preventing an infection, what you do get with one doseis infection, what you do get with one dose is stopping virtual cases and series illness. if a person is catching it but has a mild illness, thatis catching it but has a mild illness, that is good for the individual and it also means it will relieve the pressure on the hospital service, with it may be not stopping the spread of the virus. thank you. any benefits from the roll out of the mass vaccination programme are some weeks away — and the warning from experts is that the situation in hospitals across the uk will get worse before it gets better. let‘s speak to professor & chair of global public health, edinburgh university medical school devi sridhar.

thank you for your time this afternoon. as we mark the start of this massive vaccination programme, where do you think we are in terms of the spread of this virus at the moment? i think right now we are in white a dangerous point because we can see the numbers are starting to flatten in places but are still at quite a high level, so we will see deaths in the thousands and you will probably reach at 100,000 death milestone before the end of the month, and at the same time, the vaccines are rolling out which is incredibly positive so mixed news, staying ahead of the virus with the vaccine is not helping us through the winter months but there is light ahead because there is a way through this crisis in the medium term. picking up on what you were just discussing, do you think the government has got the vaccinia —— vaccination strategy right and making sure as many people as possible get that first jab perhaps at the expense of the speed of the second. it is an impossible decision andi second. it is an impossible decision and i don‘t envy those who have to balance this because there is no right or wrong answer. it is a

trade—off on right now, given the levels of infection, it was estimated 150,000 infections per day and over 1000 deaths per day, there is an imperative to save as many people and offer less protection to more people than better protection to fewer numbers, so it is really an ethical decision more than a scientific one, trading of population versus individuals. the problem is, we are talking about people and people do funny things, they don‘t necessarily listen to the advice they are getting and i‘m just wondering if you think, for the sake of that, tougher restrictions are inevitable? i think, of that, tougher restrictions are inevitable? ithink, right now, of that, tougher restrictions are inevitable? i think, right now, you can put in place of many restrictions as you want but at some point, you‘re going to a backlash from people because this has been going off for a year or so we have to get back to basic principles which is the virus transmitting when you‘re in contact with people, you don‘t want to get infected because hospitals may not have a bed for you 01’ hospitals may not have a bed for you or the people you love, yourfamily 01’ or the people you love, yourfamily or household members, those in your

homes, sojust be responsible to make sure you‘re not going to be in the chain of infections and that means getting outside, we know out transmission is minimal, avoiding indoor gal delete my gatherings, face coverings and the more restrictions we put in place, the more people will try to find loopholes fast that —— avoiding indoor gatherings. —— find loopholes. 2 million people at least have received the jab so far, when do we start seeing the benefits of justly —— such a huge vaccination programme? we will start to see it in march and april. as well as mass testing coming online and supporting isolation. this is the worst period, we knew it would be tough, this rise in loneliness, unemployment, nhs under pressure, this is the low point but if people can look at head and say by march, april, we will be ina and say by march, april, we will be in a better position, it will not be

solved. to vaccinate the entire uk population, we will be lucky to get that in the autumn, probably more like next winter given how many doses we will need and we still do not know how much —— how long immunity lasts what people will be able to look forward to better days in march and april, and may be summer. thank you for your view. just to let you know, in the last hour or just to let you know, in the last hourorso, just to let you know, in the last hour or so, richard branson has tweeted and this is the tweet, i‘m sorry to ensure that sadly, like a lot of people‘s mums and dads right now, my mum eve has also passed away. in a statement issued on his website, he said she held on for one last victory, managing to fight off the virus but it expended all of her energy in the process. his mother eve has died at the age of 96. that news just published on twitter in

the past hour or so. in the us, the speaker of the house of representatives nancy pelosi has stepped up pressure on the vice president mike pence to invoke the 25th amendment — and declare donald trump unfit for office — following the violent scenes in the capitol last week. his strongest critics want him forcibly removed from office in the next few days — and say if he isn‘t they‘ll start the process of impeachment. here‘s our north america correspondent peter bowes. president trump has been widely blamed for inciting the violence behind last week‘s assault on the us capitol, egging on his supporters, an insurrection at the heart of american democracy. mr trump has one and a half weeks of his term in office remaining. but democrats, and some senior members of his own party, want him out now. the house of representatives is to vote on a resolution urging the vice—president, mike pence, and the cabinet, to declare president trump unfit for thejob. i like the 25th amendment because it gets rid of him, he‘s out of office, but there is strong support

in the congress for impeaching the president a second time. the impeachment process could start by the middle of the week and there‘s little doubt it would be passed by the house, which is controlled by the democrats. but speaking to nbc‘s chuck todd, the republican senator pat toomey said mr trump, who he once supported, should quit of his own accord. i think the best way for our country, chuck, is for the president to resign and go away, as soon as possible. i acknowledge that may not be likely but i think that would be best. a trial in the us senate could start the day mr trump is due to leave office but some democrats say there are bigger problems to tackle right now, and the upper house of congress should focus on working withjoe biden to get his new administration working on the coronavirus response and reviving the economy. let's give president—elect biden the 100 days he needs

to get his agenda off and running and maybe we'll send the articles some time after that. whatever the timetable, the backlash against donald trump is intense. this from the former republican governor of california. with hisjob hanging in the balance, mrtrump is planning a trip to the border with mexico on tuesday. he‘ll visit a stretch of the wall that he promised to build in texas, on what may be the final official trip of his presidency. there are nine long days ahead, and america is holding its breath. peter bowes, bbc news, los angeles. damian collins is a conservative mp and former chair of the digital, culture, media and sport committee. he‘s calling for proper regulatory

framework to set the rules for posting on social media. good afternoon to you. this is the moment to do that, is it? yes, we've been building to it for a long time. worked on in the uk and europe looking at how to make a structure that we can deal with this content on social media. i think we all agree these decisions shouldn‘tjust be left to people like mark zuckerberg and while the social media companies acted last week in response to the terrible scenes we saw in washington and the storming of the capitol hill buildings, this has been building for a long time and my concern is the system has been pumped so full of poison that it can take a long time for us to work through this. referred today that the social media platform pa rler that the social media platform parler has gone off—line, reiterating what many are concerned

about others that editorial role these companies have which, in this country, of course, they would face regulation except they don‘t. you‘ll make the regulatory structure has not been created really. the companies are not liable for what happens on the platforms unless some the spreading information or looking to incite criminal acts. -- the regulatory structure has not been created. what we have seen a social media has been used to try and incite rebellion against democratic institutions. we may have thought this was just harmful content people saw online and shed with their friends but we saw people acting on it and the idea of donald trump trying to incite some kind of insurrection against the congress of the united states, it was extraordinary to see in the social media companies are partly responsible for this because the cure time promote, and boost content on their platforms. their business model is holding people cosmic attention and the use content to do that, so they think content will be sticky and more widely shared, and then they will be promoted to their

users. if they are recommending content that could be harmful, then that could be hugely damaging and they could be failing to act, failing in their duty of care to allow that to happen. is that the message itself or the power of the application of the social accounts thatis application of the social accounts that is the real problem? yell mighty power of social media is application. if those sites gave you an organic lift... -- the power of social media is application. it recommends content to you. there was a study done a few years ago looking at facebook in germany that found 60% of people thatjoined groups sharing extremist content did so at the recommendation of facebook, so these are the sort of things for which they should be held responsible and clearly harmful content reaches a bigger audience because it has been boosted by social media platforms and that can do more harm because more people will see it and engage with that.

when you heard donald trump is my twitter account had been shut down, what was your reaction? it was the right decision to take because it is a frightening situation in washington, not just a frightening situation in washington, notjust a demonstration but an invasion of congress while it was trying to pass the emotion to recognise joe biden as was trying to pass the emotion to recognisejoe biden as the next president and in these actions, five people lost their lives, so donald trump is behaving in a way that might accelerate that, social media companies need to step in. this has really been going on since election night with the assertion by donald trump that any facts to back it up that somehow there is a massive conspiracy, a fraud to stop him winning, that has been consistently pushed since november and an increasing number of americans, particularly those who voted for donald trump, believe this is true and we saw the consequences of it, and we saw the consequences of it, and former trump advisers like steve bannon calling for an insurrection in the country, saying people like

doctor fauci should be punished but there should be an —— in intervention and i think the emotions that ran so high and those events last week are difficult to turn off and on social media today, you‘ll probably find similar m essa 9 es you‘ll probably find similar messages being pushed with those people, maybe not from donald trump is accounts but to people who share his views. while i've got you here andi his views. while i've got you here and i know the words always bring dread, but while i‘ve got you, can we talk quickly about the restrictions that don‘t seem to be getting tightened at the moment when so getting tightened at the moment when so many people say things are getting a lot worse and they need to be tightened ? what getting a lot worse and they need to be tightened? what is your view?|j would say to people, i ask them to do as would say to people, i ask them to doasi would say to people, i ask them to do as i do with my constituency every day, the data gets published every day, the data gets published every day, the data gets published every day, localised data, showing infection rates that have still been going up, still very high and until there is no must come down, the retractions will not be lifted. if

we wa nt retractions will not be lifted. if we want the restrictions to go and we want the restrictions to go and we wa nt we want the restrictions to go and we want to be in control of the virus, the best thing we can do now is heed by the restrictions in the lockdown. we may not like it, but it is bring the virus under control. now it‘s time for a look at the weather with louise lear. hello there. it‘s a rather cloudy, but milder theme of weather for most of the country. there is still some cold air there in the far north of scotland. that‘s brought some snow so far today, with relentless rain across central and western scotland and northern ireland. that‘s the weather front that is sitting into the north. and just behind it, we‘ve got this westly feed that is driving in the mild air across the country. now, those weather fronts will sync their way steadily southwards as we go through the rest of the day. so overnight tonight we will see cloud and rain pushing out of northern ireland into wales and across england. clearer skies behind me now contrast the feel of the weather, with temperatures once again below freezing. it‘s going to be a mild start to tuesday in the south. that‘s where the cloud and the rain will set first thing, it‘ll slowly drift its way

into south wales and southwest england as we go through the afternoon, allowing for some sunshine to come through for many of us on tuesday. cooler in the northeast here, but we see double—digit continuing and the south. take care. this is bbc news, the headlines... the prime minister says 2.4 million vaccinations against coronavirus have been administered across the uk but urges people to stick to the rules. we cannot be complacent. the worst thing now would be for us to allow success in rolling out a vaccine allow success in rolling out a vaccine programme allow success in rolling out a vaccine programme to breed any kind of complacency about the state of the pandemic. it follows a grim warning from england‘s chief medical officer who says the uk is about to end the worst weeks —— enter the

worst weeks of the pandemic. end the worst weeks —— enter the worst weeks of the pandemicm end the worst weeks —— enter the worst weeks of the pandemic. it is really important that everybody, in every interaction that they have, every interaction that they have, every day for the next few weeks, thinks, do i really need to do this? pressure mounts on washington to strip donald trump of power after the violent storming of congress last week. we may be going to the public accounts committee, which could be relevant to the covid issue, but first of all let‘s go to the sport, with that proviso, i might grab it back from you. understood, thank you for that. we start with the news that 13 celtic players, manager neil lennon and his assistant, are all self—isolating after i squad member tested positive for coronavirus. it comes as first minister nicola sturgeon questioned the club‘s trip to dubai and on the day the scottish football association suspended football below the two top tiers. chris mclaughlin

has more. well, celtic have been heavily criticised for days for this controversial winter training trip to dubai. today, we are seeing the consequences of that. the player who has coronavirus has been identified as the defender christopherjullien. also 13 other players and the manager and his assistant, now being forced to self—isolate. a huge headache for celtic going forward in terms of their league campaign. also a huge headache for the scottish government. the first minister once again being forced to talk about it today at her daily briefing, describing it as frustrating and disappointing. also in scottish football, the decision now to suspend the leagues underneath the premiership and the championship. that is again in response to growing concerns about coronavirus. that suspension will last for three weeks and it will be reviewed after that time. and as predicted, i will hand

back to you, simon, for some news from the house of commons. thank you very much indeed, it is a meeting of the public accounts committee and we are waiting to hear from the public accounts committee and we are waiting to hearfrom sir simon stevens, the head of nhs england. the head of the vaccine task force is also giving evidence. let‘s just listen to some of the questions, with meg hillier. very difficult second wave of the pandemic, everything anyone feared has been happening, is there anything you would like to say before we go into theissue would like to say before we go into the issue of vaccines? thank you, chair, and you're right, obviously we are going to spend this afternoon talking about the hope that vaccines represent. but in the meantime we are facing an incredibly serious situation. the chief medical officer, chris whitty, has again underlined that this morning. we have more than 30,000 severely ill coronavirus patients in hospitals across england. that is up by 13,000

just since christmas day. in london, one in people has the coronavirus. in parts of london, it may be twice that number. and if you look across other regions of england, the issue is that coronavirus is once again on the rise. in merseyside, for example, in just the the rise. in merseyside, for example, injust the last the rise. in merseyside, for example, in just the last week, there has been a further 50% increase in the number of covid hospitalisations. so, this is a very serious moment for the country and for the national health service, and it is worth remembering that this affects all ages. a quarter of the covid admissions to hospital right i'iow covid admissions to hospital right now are for people aged under 55. so, this is something that we all have to take extremely seriously. thank you, back it‘s and on behalf of the committee if you could convey your thanks to the thousands of nhs staff and nhs contractors who are

working so hard and under such pressure to support us all. i think we would like to pass on our enormous thanks to them. i would like to introduce our witnesses formally... thank you for that but i think what my colleagues would say is, the biggest thanks that nursing in critical care, the doctor in intensive care, the paramedic responding, the biggest thanks that individually and collectively we can do is actually to stay at home and not put ourselves and other people at risk through transmission. we now know how this virus spreads and in many parts of the country it is spreading out of control. thank you very much, back it. i know that in my part of north—east london, one in 20 people have coronavirus so it is a very serious matter. i would like to introduce our witnesses. you have just heard from the chief executive of nhs, sirsimon just heard from the chief executive of nhs, sir simon stevens. we also welcome the permanent secretary at

the department of health and social care, which is responsible for a lot of the strategy around the vaccine, and sarah mumby, permanent secretary at the department for business energy and industrial strategy, and thatis energy and industrial strategy, and that is the department which is overall for procurement of the vaccines. michael brodie the chief executive of public health england. a key player in all of this. kate bingham, the chairof a key player in all of this. kate bingham, the chair of the vaccine task force, although no longer chair of the task force, but was appointed by the prime minister in april two that role. nick elliott, the senior responsible owner for the vaccine task force and director—general at the department for business. and dr emily nelson, who is the chief commercial officerfor emily nelson, who is the chief commercial officer for nhs england and nhs improvement and was the senior responsible owner for ppe procurement as well as for vaccines. so, a very busy woman. we look forward to hearing from you. i wa nted forward to hearing from you. i

wanted to start if i could, back to you, sir, about the roll—out of the vaccine and how quickly it can realistically be rolled out. we have had a lot of optimistic messages from ministers and others and we have talked to the people on the ground in ourown have talked to the people on the ground in our own constituencies and around the country who are dealing with this. do you think that the timeframe is realistic and what is your estimate for how fast you think your estimate for how fast you think you can reach the key groups? again, an enormous thank you to colleagues across the health service but also our partners in the army and in public health england, stjohn‘s ambulance, the royal voluntary service, local authorities, all of whom are coming together in this huge team effort to mobilise for what will be the fastest vaccination roll—out in our history. and this afternoon, we have published the data for this past week, which will

now be updated on a daily basis and iam now be updated on a daily basis and i am pleased to say that that shows another very significant acceleration in the number of vaccinations given last week. so, over the first three weeks of the programme, as supplied came online, with the first vaccination, from pfizer, we were able to administer around 1.1 million doses across the country. we doubled that in this past week. so, the rate of vaccination has tripled over the course of the last week, with another 1.2 millionjobs course of the last week, with another 1.2 million jobs having course of the last week, with another 1.2 millionjobs having been given, which means that the total number ofjobs given, which means that the total number of jobs for england given, which means that the total number ofjobs for england has now reached 2.3 million, and for the united kingdom it is now over 2.5 million. so i think that augurs well for the further acceleration that we are going to see in the coming weeks

as we head towards the mid—february goal of having offered vaccination to everybody aged 70 and over as well as people in care homes, the clinically extremely vulnerable and the health and social care staff. the target between now and mid—february is around 13 million, and we have done 2.5 million, which is an achievement, but there is still a lot to do, can you give us some examples of how you are getting that logistical exercise going on the ground ? that logistical exercise going on the ground? because the evidence that we have had from gps among others is that they are confused about the communication and they have no certainty about the delivery of the vaccine, and the timing of it is critical, so you can you give us some reassurance that the logistical supply chain is being smoothed and will deliver? yes, and you're right, it isa will deliver? yes, and you're right, it is a huge task and as i say i think the proof of the ramp up is in the over 1 think the proof of the ramp up is in the over1 billion extra

vaccinations that have been delivered over the past week, and they will be more this coming week. if the question is, how is that happening? it is happening as a consequence of three things. first of all, our supply becoming available to us on a phased basis. it was only last week that we were able to start using the new astrazeneca vaccine, alongside the pfizer beyond tech vaccine. and the vaccine task force has done a fantastic job vaccine task force has done a fantasticjob in sourcing vaccine for this country, for the national health service. so, the first is increasing supply. the second is increasing supply. the second is increasing the number of places that we are able to administer the vaccination, and you have seen a steady expansion in the number of local vaccination services and hospital herbs and an today the wider scale vaccination centres being an additional option. the vaccination plan that the government are publishing later this afternoon will set all of that out. and then

the third piece of it is as we have got more supply and more places, then we will also have more people doing vaccinating. and we have had a fantastic response to people currently in the service but also those willing to volunteer to come back and help such that we don‘t think workforce is going to be a constraint on vaccine administration between now and mid—february. but i would just say, chair, that this is if you like in three phases. this is a sprint to mid—february, and then it will be a sprint fund mid—february through to the end of april, to extend the vaccination to the rest of the higher risk groups identified by the jcvi, the rest of the higher risk groups identified by thejcvi, and then it will be a marathon from april through the summer into the autumn, as the secretary of state for health said, where we are offering everybody in the country who wants it over the age of 18 a vaccine. so,

we have got the next five weeks, that then we have got through april and march... so, what do you need of the system to make sure that the nhs is able to meet these hugely stretching targets given that we know the viruses rampant right now and we probably won‘t berate of aid by the end of the year and can you realistically guarantee that you will be able to roll it out to all over 18s by the end of 2021? -- we won‘t berate of it. that is the goal that we have and we believe it is a feasible goal. it depends on continuing supplied throughout the year, but as the nao report lays out, vaccine staff have done a fantastic job of sourcing out, vaccine staff have done a fantasticjob of sourcing millions of doses, tens of millions, hundreds of doses, tens of millions, hundreds of millions, over the course of this calendar year. there may be some uncertainty as to exactly which week or which month some of them arrived

but in aggregate we ought to be well served for the amount of vaccines available in this country over the course of 2021. so you're confident that by the end of this year we will see that target reached, in civil terms, yet? the offer. the offer, yes. we can‘t force people to take them, yes. and in terms of privatisation, there is a clear prioritisation for people on clinical need first, i think we understand that, but interestingly there has been some discussion about changing that prioritisation, and dr witty was today saying that there might need to be a discussion after going through the most honourable groups about privatising people at the frontline of essential services, may be in education and transport and supermarkets, whatever, are you involved in those discussions and do you have any thoughts on those? well, as you perhaps imply, chair,

those are decisions that are for ministers on the advice of thejoint committe on vaccination and immunisation. they have set out very clearly their logic for the first one to nine priority groups. but i think there is a strong case, particularly in respect of teachers and other key workers once the first high priority groups have been vaccinated for asking jcvi to consider specifically those groups. we are going to look in more detail later about the gap between the two jabs, but of the 13.5 million people we have spoken about today, is it all first jabs so far, we have spoken about today, is it all firstjabs so far, and how any of those are second jabs? the vast majority of those are first jabs, 1.96 million, but there were some

second jabs, where that was a clinical decision to do so given that last week was just a few days after the changed advice from the jcvi. so, just over half a million are second jabs. no, ithink jcvi. so, just over half a million are second jabs. no, i think for england it is more like 374,000. ok, sorry. i am going to bring in dame cheryl. before you do, chair, can i come in on the privatisation? i have got a question for government and as sir says, there are questions to be taken on that subject when we get to the end of the jcvi prioritisation list. it is important to note that there were some things about the vaccine that we need to know before some of those decisions are taken, we need to know more about in

particular, which is the extent to which the vaccine stops the transmission of the virus as well as stopping people getting sick, and we need to know more about how long the protection lasts. so, not only do we have decisions to take but there is actually more data that we need to build up in order to inform those decisions. obviously the government will take those decisions at the appropriate moment. do you know what the timetable is? well, this is being studied all the time and the more we use the vaccines, the more we learn about them from the surveillance systems that we have, so surveillance systems that we have, so there isn‘t a cut—off date, but we will learn more and more and when

we will learn more and more and when we are clear that the initial plan, andi we are clear that the initial plan, and i think the government has actually just published its and i think the government has actuallyjust published its written version of the vaccine roll—out plan, we will be taking decisions at that point but i could not put a date on it right now. i should just let people know that that has been published while we were just coming into the committee meeting. so we have not read that yet. i am now going to go to dame cheryl gillan. thanks, chair. just a couple of questions which are concerning people, back it. first of all, very alarming report to read that a person called on a house, charge money and gave what amounted to, in fa ct, money and gave what amounted to, in fact, we hope, a harmless injection to somebody, but that was a false matter. but also surrounding the security of the vaccines themselves. are you satisfied that you have got suitable security arrangements in place so that we will not see a

repeat of that terrible incident and that all of the supplies of vaccines are secure? maybe, i could take that in the two parts that you set out. in terms of the second part of the question, the security of the supply chain, yes, i think colleagues in public health england and dr emily may want to come on in on this as well, we have confidence on that point. there is a trade—off between the transparency that everybody wa nts to the transparency that everybody wants to see about where vaccines are stored, how they move around the country, when an individual new location is coming online and so forth, versus the opportunity that then presents to malign actors in respect of supply. so, there was our legitimate concerns that have been discussed with the police and the security services, and emily might wa nt to security services, and emily might want to come in on that. on the first point, you are quite right that there needs to be great religions on this, this is

ultimately a matter for the religions on this, this is ultimately a matterfor the police and the home office, and it may be that chris wants to talk about that. we have had our minds on the vaccine tour task force and the deployment programme so tour task force and the deployment programme so there is a cross supply chain security support comprising of the agencies that you would expect to be involved out of the home office and that reports into the deployment team at our deployment board in all of the programme meetings we have every morning looking at operations and providing advice on that basis. so, has looked at security of individual sites, and it is one of the reasons why some of that information hasn‘t been shared and televised, for example. it is also the reason why there have been

checks on people who volunteer into the programme to make sure people are volunteering on the right basis and that we can assure ourselves or the sites involved can assure themselves of the people who are arriving and we do get there are weekly briefings on that from the services to make sure we are aware of any threats in particular wanting to secure files et cetera for the kind of reasons that you outline. so it is very much on the mind of the programme and something that we look at every day. only to say from the central storage, from a phe perspective, we have had audits from the cp and i, the centre for protection of national structure, and from the cybersecurity centre, they have looked at both the physical info structure and also the technology, and we have implemented all of the recommendations from those two organisations. that is good to know because i think it is necessary to reassure the public

that we are not being about the supplies of acting vaccine but this isa supplies of acting vaccine but this is a matter of national security and there are malign actors, as sir simon said. the other points i have are on matters that have been raised with me and are of concern to people around the country. first of all or around the country. first of all or a lot of people have been getting letters sending them to mass vaccination centres that are not close to where they live and they wa nt to close to where they live and they want to know if they can go locally and the advice that is being given locally is to wait until your gp contacts you, could you confirm that thatis contacts you, could you confirm that that is correct? and also on the priority for the people receiving it, i have had concerned constituents asking that they have a relative who is obviously young but about to start cancer treatment or chemotherapy and they are very concerned that they have not been called to have the vaccine and being allowed to jump the queue because of their age, i wondered allowed to jump the queue because of their age, iwondered if allowed to jump the queue because of their age, i wondered if you could address those two points for me.

certainly, yes. on the first point, the vaccination centres, the larger scale vaccination centres are simply an additional option that some people may choose to avail themselves of, but they will also be getting an offer, an invitation, from their local gp services, for a more convenient vaccination, if they would prefer that. so, there has obviously been a discussion about getting the balance right between the scale efficiencies of running some of these larger operations that can do many hundreds of vaccines each day, versus the local convenience that we need for maximum u pta ke of convenience that we need for maximum uptake of the vaccine. and in a sense we are trying to do both. so we wa nt sense we are trying to do both. so we want to be completely clear that the letters that people are receiving, and the texts will say this very clearly, this is an additional option but if it is not

convenient for you, additional option but if it is not convenient foryou, don‘t additional option but if it is not convenient for you, don‘t worry, you will get another offer within the next five weeks for a convenient local service. and by the way if you are housebound to do we will arrange for somebody to come and give you the vaccination at home if that is required. and then on your second point, essentially i think we have to defer to thejcvi and the chief medical officers, they have looked at the point that you raised. there is some flexibility for exceptional individual circumstances, where clinicians can make that choice, but overall their recommendation was that the risks correspond very greatly to age and therefore applying this age based determination was what we in the health service have been instructed to do. back should anybody in those situations contact their clinicians and asked for advice directly? that

is not the recommendation of the jcvi and the chief medical officers, no. so, what do i tell them? they are asking me for advice. and i and not clench a train. well, i think we just have to say —— clinically trained —— that they ask that is being made of the health service is to proceed with the vaccination priorities, calling people in, and we are doing that starting with the over—80s and care home residents and working our way down and it is not currently the recommendation that people should be vaccinated out with those initial four groups between now and the 15th of february. could you take that specific case a for me because i don‘t think that is a satisfactory response for my constituent or anybody that is starting chemotherapy who is of a younger age group. i think it will cause concern and i younger age group. i think it will cause concern and i would like it if you would take it away and see whether that could be changed? well, iam more whether that could be changed? well, i am more than happy to raise the point directly with chris whitty,

absolutely. but ultimately it is a set of clinical decisions that the health service is asked to give effect to, so it would be for the chief medical officers and thejcvi to decide whether to do something different than what they have currently told us to do.|j different than what they have currently told us to do. i trust you to ta ke currently told us to do. i trust you to take that away and come back to me personally. i think that in the publication which was published as we started this meeting, i believe there was some clarification. i am now going to move on... sir geoffrey... happy new year, for all our witnesses. sir geoffrey... happy new year, for all ourwitnesses. sir simon, geoffrey... happy new year, for all our witnesses. sir simon, can geoffrey... happy new year, for all ourwitnesses. sir simon, can i geoffrey... happy new year, for all our witnesses. sir simon, can i ask you one or two questions. firstly the prime minister in his broadcast introducing the lockdown said that if all went well, the first four priority groups would be vaccinated

by the middle of february, is that still on course? yes, it is on course. and the aim is to be able to offer everybody in those first four groups and appointment by the 15th of february. can i clear up the total number of people you expect to vaccinate? because total number of people you expect to vaccinate ? because the total number of people you expect to vaccinate? because the report has different views on this. on one point it says your department wants to vaccinate everybody. at another point it says that we need to vaccinate 70% of the population. at another point it says we need to vaccinate 25 million people. how many people do you intend to vaccinate, or offer the vaccination to? so, within the first four priority groups in england, there are an estimated 12.2 million people, and so we aim to offer all 12.2 million people a vaccination before the 15th of how many of them choose to take up the offer will

reveal itself with each successive day and week. the central expectation is that around three quarters of people may do so. but we believe it could be higher given that in this year‘s flu jab season, we‘ve seen that in this year‘s flu jab season, we‘ve seen around that in this year‘s flu jab season, we‘ve seen around 80% of people aged 65 and over choosing to accept the flu jab. that is up by about 10% on last year. the point is, there is enough vaccine coming on stream that if all 12.2 million people say yes, then we can vaccinate all 12.2 million people. if some don‘t, as is likely, then that is vaccine that we can use for other people. and in respect of the 25 million number that you referred to, sir geoffrey, which is mentioned in the nao report, just to clarify that is not now the number that we expect to be

vaccinated during the calendar year 2021, that is the estimated number of people who are in the fulljcvi risk pyramid categories one through nine. in other words, risk pyramid categories one through nine. in otherwords, everybody risk pyramid categories one through nine. in other words, everybody aged 50 and above, as well as the clinically extremely vulnerable. so, we aim to be able to offer that grew by spring, late spring, assuming vaccine supply carries on, and then all of the rest of the country, the other 17.7 million adults in england, during the balance of the yearfor england, during the balance of the year for does that clarify it? england, during the balance of the year for does that clarify mm does, thank you very much. the prime minister originally said he wanted the vaccine to vaccinate 2 million per week. 13 million vaccinated by

mid—february stepping up a bit. how long, taking the previous answer, how long do you realistically think the first category 90 will take and how long do you think the vaccination programme or take through 20 want to get all of those who really want the vaccination to be vaccinated? we've covered this already. you like it‘s a very good question. we have two sprints and a marathon. a sprint now to the 15th of february... we covered that. there was problems connecting. of february... we covered that. there was problems connectingm you call it, don't worry. the health secretary said by the autumn, by the autumn we would have hoped to be able to offer everybody in the

country vaccine, one of the things concerning is that this localised data, the localised brea kd owns localised data, the localised breakdowns of data. how localised will they be? on ccg bases is a cou nty will they be? on ccg bases is a county basis? can you tell is any more? sure, we will do a regional split, a split by the areas and that local authority level as well, and you‘re aiming to do that within the next week or ten days, and if i mightjust say, next week or ten days, and if i might just say, it next week or ten days, and if i mightjust say, it underlines the important role of local authorities and directors of public health in the programme, not in calling people

in because this is an invite programme so we can do in because this is an invite programme so we can do it on a basis but making sure people to get that invitation, we see good uptake when we might have had a lower vaccine uptake. 13 million in the first wave up uptake. 13 million in the first wave up to the middle of february and in 17 million in the second wave nationwide. are we expecting the speed of the second to be quicker than the first? we will have higher production by that point in the vaccine? ouraim is, as those production by that point in the vaccine? our aim is, as those three phases unfold, to be able to each month vaccinate, so as we may come wa nt to month vaccinate, so as we may come want to discuss, the fantastic work being done to your the vaccine means we should have a lot more by spring than we have now and more in the summer than spring, so we would expect the vaccination rate to

increase and in turn have many more partners. we have all of the vaccine supplies. we can expect the national brea kd owns supplies. we can expect the national breakdowns and in the next week to ten days, localised data we asked for? just to be clear. did you want me to move to allow simon to change... ? the point you need to a nswer change... ? the point you need to answer next because we have problems with your sandwich will try to sort out. quickly, on the treatment and loosing a huge update in the treatment recently, and i've had some questions likely, alongside the other treatment, is it something you're rolling out as well? let me

get you a specific note on the question because there are trials under way, the new treatments has been the repurchasing of the arthritis drugs, simon, there is arthritis drugs, simon, there is a problem with your sound, if you can check the back channel. shall i dial back in? we were dry not discuss it on live air, but we will drop you off and go back to richard holden. if i could drop you off and go back to richard holden. ifi could ask drop you off and go back to richard holden. if i could ask miss bingham, pressing around the eu and whether we we re pressing around the eu and whether we were right to be part of the vaccine

we were right to be part of the vaccine programme, we were right to be part of the vaccine programme, do we now know it was the right decision to definitely not be part of the eu programme? how quickly are we in advance compared to the programme? there would be in comparison? we talked about it in december. it will allow you to participate, so we were not able to join any decision—making on which vaccines we had to abandon negotiations we either had under way or were concluding with astrazeneca. we also are not able to talk to our future potential vaccine companies that they may not be talking to currently, but be aware able to act quickly if we done it independently.

they think it is a better approach for us and in hindsight was the right decision. in terms of speed, how much quicker do you think it‘s going to be looking at the uk getting that roll—out particularly for those vulnerable groups in comparison to our friends in the eu? pa rt comparison to our friends in the eu? part of the reason for acting quickly was so that we could give the nhs teams time to prepare. the vaccines have a highly challenging supply chain. the only other teams have to prepare, the quicker they can roll out to any vaccines are available. i think the team has done

phenomenally well. they have formed an incredibly strong team and i would like to call out my team for the amazing work they‘ve done. would like to call out my team for the amazing work they've done. will come to that later on. one final question, would you say a couple of months ahead of the european cou nterpa rts months ahead of the european counterparts on the programme, because we took a different approach? probably. i don't have... i‘m not privy to the details now so i don‘t read the headlines like you do but i know we‘ve had plenty more time to prepare for it. for every 250 injections, particularly for the elderly age group, it‘s really helping. coming to the... can we go

to the main session now? this is really looking at the report. looking at it as a launch pad. we will go a bit further so i will ask richard holden to take the floor once again. we will now drill down a bit into the taxpayer interest element of this because there is a huge amount of taxpayer money being spent here, looking at 2.9 billion on the vaccines themselves and a much larger amount on the vaccine roll—out programme. i‘m just wanting to ask first of all, really, we started buying vaccines before knowing whether they were safe and effective, so how on earth did you manage to decide which contract you would go for and which would provide best value for money? the starting point was to assemble a team of experts, so as i said, i‘m a

therapeutic expert, not a vaccine expert and the distinction is whether people have a disease or are healthy, i pulled together a team of people who are both clinical, preclinical, regulatory and manufacturing experts who can tell both three —— the landscape of the different vaccine candidates and then perform the detailed work we need to actually assess different characteristics of these candidates, and the criteria used was well a sufficiently advanced to allow entry into the clinic in 2020 and, if possible, approval, so the focus was very much to secure the most promising vaccines. the first is about speed, second about the ability to immunise and protect those who are at risk. we also

needed to be sure that we could make them, so they could be scaled to the level we could protect all those who need it, in the uk. those were for triaging candidates who are out there and of course we have relationships. all the western companies we evaluated were companies we evaluated were companies where we had prior relationships in some way between at least one member of the team and those companies, so it meant we were able to have meetings on evenings, saturday, weekends and move things forward very quickly because we had a level of understanding and trust, both with companies that we did end up both with companies that we did end up securing contracts with as well as ones we did not. it was... and if i take you back to may, which is when we started, there was no evidence any of these vaccines would

work. so our portfolio strategy was that we wanted to optimise the chances of success and of any of these different format would work, we had access to the most promising vaccine in that format. particularly around speed was the issue and what premium are we paying on that speed? obviously we were looking at 270 million doses, give or take, {2.9 million, roughly £10 million per dose. what is the price differential between the different vaccines? the mrna ones are more expensive. and then there was a roughly in the middle. the challenge is when we are negotiating, everyone is using the data they have at the time that none of the companies at that point had actually scaled up the manufacturing. we didn‘t know at

that time at the cost would be so we struck deals so we had firm pricing, and in some cases further vaccines. they could not have been a discussion about premium because no one actually knew what the costs would be. i don‘t know if you want to pick up on any of that? that is exactly right. we didn‘t pay premiums for early access because people didn‘t know what they would be. what we did was negotiated quickly and early. we got into contracts early so we had some set up contracts early so we had some set up initially and then supply agreements. i think there is only one of the portfolio vaccines we did offer a slightly higher premium and a very small premium in 2020 but other than that, the case was just outlined. the first contract which

was the first one to get regulatory approval, we did so because we were quick and nimble, and the largest buyer. it is much more substantial in terms of buyers than the uk and then we were the first to deploy it. i‘m astonished you didn‘t have to pay a premium given that we aren‘t the largest buyer out there and also that we have to pay the money anyway so that we have to pay the money anyway so getting the economy moving again is naturally a huge benefit. we know you are going in blind and doing the best you can possibly do. how do you determine the different doses and those numbers of the different ones? because it‘s quite a wide variety.

it's because it‘s quite a wide variety. it‘s up to 100 million for astrazeneca so why did you go for the different numbers? the first thing we did was talk tojc vi about the consumption numbers of people who are vulnerable and those people who are vulnerable and those people who will be recommended for vaccination so their advice to us right at the beginning was 30 million people with a target, that the groups one through nine that have since been discussed, so that was our benchmark number and then it is twice as many, 60 million doses. in the case of biontech, we got as much as we could for the early supply which is now 40 million doses as opposed to 60 and that is phased, and the reason the maternal number is lower as we could have got the full amount but it‘s the supply timing would be too late, so because they prioritised in return a‘s case, manufacturing in the us because it‘s

aus manufacturing in the us because it‘s a us company ahead of europe, the european supply would not come online for at least a quarter after the time the us would come online, and that basically captures all of them apart from astrazeneca, and the astrazeneca number assumes vaccination of the full population and that number i think was actually defined before it was formally set up, so that is 450 million people. to questions follow on from that, given we now have potentially 200 and 70 million if doses, do we expect to go back and buy more from other suppliers or is this sufficient for what we need in the uk? particularly in terms of speed. i tracked the number of doses... we

have scope to increase in some of those, so we have more doses than we are likely to need if they all work and that is if we are signing the contract, we don‘t know if it was going to be the case. what are we going to be the case. what are we going to be the case. what are we going to do beyond? with the extra doses, what happens? are we bound into contracts with these which we may now no longer need, or what will we do with the extra supply chain that if we are managing to vaccinate more rapidly than others? use that to? mr elliott. thank you. first of all, point of clarification, we are going up to 3000 67 million doses because we another 10 million doses. the reason we went for those additional ones is because you managed to secure them at an earlier time than we thought he would be able to get, so that is another

contingency option for us. in terms of the overall, what we do with those doses, it is too early to say because we do not actually know whether or not you will see the following vaccines come through and we‘ve got to see what happens with the roll—out as well because you have potential challenges to that. what we are trying to do is get as much flexibility as possible to allow us to not take those vaccines allow us to not take those vaccines a look at alternative disposal options, and are looking at the facilities of the options we have there. this was a whole and activated viral vaccine and it is in the clinic now but was not in there last year and

why we didn‘t do it especially given the news of the mutations we are seeing in the virus is by having a whole and activated virus, you have a much broader real estate. this is in many ways for us, a tried and tested proven vaccine platform with a much broader range of immune response so a much broader range of immune response so it is unlikely that any... inclusions and part of the portfolio. that brings me neatly onto my next question which i will direct to miss monday if i can. the home secretary. one of the things implied by this is that you‘re going to look at annual vaccination

programmes. is that now something we are looking at in terms of this? of course, we are absolutely thinking about the fact annual vaccinations might be required. it is too early to say whether they will be or not. we have plenty of doses to be getting on with, notjust next year but likely last year as well, so it is an urgent and critical question about annual vaccinations just to be clear, and we will have the luxury in that case of being able to take a little bit more time to survey the field. what couldn‘t be done this time round, which is comparing a set of vaccinations against a clear set of vaccinations against a clear set of criteria because information were shifting all of the time, and that approach will be more applicable to any future annual vaccination programme. on that potential future

programme, what has been done to ensure future access to supply to protect taxpayers from potential price increases? because i know this is very much a global pandemic and eve ryo ne is very much a global pandemic and everyone is throwing their weight behind the wheel but what are we doing to ensure a longer term that taxpayer money will be protected if we do end up down that route? have we do end up down that route? have we had those conversations with these companies already? we would expect our negotiating position would improve over time because more vaccines are coming on stream, and there is more supply. it is about... at which time it becomes a certainty. that is a good point, timing. what is the timing if we look forward? when do those decisions need to be made? when

you‘re looking at taxpayer and production level. not for a while. simply because we‘ve got enough... production level. not for a while. simply because we've got enough... while is quite general. we have a lot, and for this year, if you look at the 367 million doses, let‘s assume they reached approval,. we have time in hand, so we are not making an annual vaccination plan necessary and we don‘t need to yet, but i can see chris has his hand up. looking at the secretary, department of health. it goes back to some of the unknowns i was describing it as well. what the future vaccination is beyond the first round depends on those things and also how the virus

develops because, as you know, we already have some variance. while we will be wanting to plan for the future, we want to do so when the right information is available on all of those issues. on the right information, the problem is we have already seen this quite significant, several mutations, the south african variant and the one identified in the uk, and asked miss being mentioned, looking at the wider element of the vaccine, the one up to scotland that has been produced potentially in scotland, we could be looking at having to do a vaccination programme for next year with an updated virus as we do with the annual flu jabs any matter of months. is this something which is under active planning at the moment? i also various things about that and

kate can come in. i was going to say she would be better position to a nswer she would be better position to answer some. a couple of things i will say, viruses mutate, all of them do, we see it with flu every year. once you have got a base vaccine creating alternative versions of that vaccine for new variants, it‘s considerably easier, as we do every year was flu. once you have a vaccine, and some of the technological advances and speed advances that have been made over covert compared to how vaccines are normally developed, —— over covid, which takes sometimes five or ten times longer than has been managed this time, ought to mean that we can also create vaccines for new variants of those unnecessary at greater speed, but there are still a

lag. i suspect where we want to get to is global surveillance that is done on flu. we need to get to the world basis change production if thatis world basis change production if that is the way this virus goes to, it still remains a very new virus but would you like to add? we need to make this a simple as an annual flu jab and that is exactly the strategy we have taken on at the tf. i‘ve written about it because they are are clearly things we can do to act more quickly next time and make this just act more quickly next time and make thisjust much more routine as part of both surveillance and production of both surveillance and production of vaccines, so some of the things we have put in place for the vaccine

task forces to think about how we can improve the manufacturing, the scale up and improve the actual vaccine format because at the moment they require needles, we have two doses, they require call chains, there are health care professionals to administer them and none of them are idealfor vaccines. we need to actually be developing vaccine formats which ideally oral or bottle or intranasal or a formats which ideally oral or bottle or intra nasal or a patch formats which ideally oral or bottle or intranasal or a patch where you get it sent in the post and that basically will protect you from whatever period there may be. you raise and pre—empt my next question where we rely neatly on miss mumby and mr elliott. some of the payments have been made in advance to these firms to help stop manufacturing processing and support clinical trials, given the early investment

in some of these from the government, why was it not possible to pursue perhaps more on the intellectual property rights as part of these negotiations for?” intellectual property rights as part of these negotiations for? i will let nick add to this because i‘m sure he will want to talk about it but it‘s fair to say all these vaccines have been developed for global use and vaccine manufacturers have been talking to people across the world, and the idea that we could have realistically fired intellectual property rights over the vaccine was not seriously on the table, if it had been, we would have been open to having that discussion but ultimately the intellectual property here is owned in the right place which is the people who are designing and making vaccines, and we need to be an outstanding buyer of these vaccines are now in the near future. do you want to add something to this, mr elliott? try not really, miss mumby has covered

adequately but the only thing i would say is that it‘s only where clinical development has been there that you have that option anyway really because the investment in manufacturing has been on the basis that it has been upfront with payment rates recovered through the cost of the vaccine coming back later anyway, so it is not something you‘re giving to those companies to keep, it is something that has been recovered to a cost of the vaccine. we‘ve put some of this cash into the vaccine, supporting the clinical development of programme. yes, but that costigan has been recovered to the cost of the vaccine so that is not... it is very thin conducting trials in the uk and the ability to gain access to those vaccines. we‘ve got commercial arrangements in place for pretty much everything that gives us those costs back.|j for pretty much everything that gives us those costs back. i will hand back to mr baillieu will develop this little more. sean bailey. thank you. ijust develop this little more. sean bailey. thank you. i just want to ta ke bailey. thank you. i just want to take a step back in terms of

actually front payments. we‘ve heard from national audit office that £114 million for payments remained conscious that... how as we model the risk on these payments? maybe this is one for miss bingham because i‘m conscious that, when we make these payments, one would give us a full refund in the event that we have approval and to requires approval on vaccines and the other is non—refundable, so i‘m just conscious, what is the risk to the taxpayer there? the risk was substantial for payments, so taxpayer there? the risk was substantialfor payments, so in my appointment letter, it was quite clear that the focus was to secure vaccines for the uk as soon as possible and that would mean taking on costs for manufacturing at risk before we know whether or not these vaccines were safe and effective, and approved by the regulators, so if they were approved, we would then

have manufacturing process and vaccines ready to start deployment quickly, so when i was on the actual back an expert advisory group, which predated, that was a question i asked you vaccine expert, and across the board, the feedback was vaccines that are actually already in the clinic probably have a maybe 15% chance of success, maybe 20% on vaccines that are yet to go into the clinic, we should assume less than 10% chance of success, so there is no doubt that he took on risk to do the manufacturing scale, for a range of different vaccines, and that is what the upfront cost was four, it was for those companies to invest in the manufacturing so that they would have doses available should they be successful, and that was an explicit strategy set up by the pm so we could actually be quick to start deploying if any of these vaccines

proved to be safe and effective. the one thing i would say is that they are quite significant... quite a high degree of risk in terms of those figures you just quoted. in terms of the existing risk, because not all of those vaccines had com plete not all of those vaccines had complete approval yet, what is the outstanding risk currently to the uk taxpayer? nick, do you want to... ? when you look at the portfolio, if we had not made that investment... the point of regulatory approval, and if you look at the overall money case of vaccines, it weighed against the coast of the pandemic, it only takes one of those vaccines to be successful to that recover for the taxpayer the investment that is at risk, and actually we are in the fortunate position of having three of those portfolio vaccines and hopefully we will. .. of those portfolio vaccines and hopefully we will... we will go away

from that, the public accounts committee. whilst they were on air, some interesting facts coming through on the vaccination that the government has put out a press release setting out the delivery plan for vaccinating tens of millions of people by the spring, and just picking up a couple of the headlines from that, there will be at least 2 million vaccinations per week with more than 2700 vaccine sites across the united kingdom, over 200,000 offers of nonclinical support from the public to help with the logistics of the programme and it‘s those tens of millions of people so being immunised of the spring and over 2700 vaccination sites across the uk, with and we heard this from the prime minister earlier, by the end ofjanuary, eve ryo ne earlier, by the end ofjanuary, everyone in england being within ten miles of a vaccination site or for a small number of higher in the rural areas, being brought to them via mobile teams and as we heard from that committee, meeting, the issue

of vaccinations getting the vaccines into arms is of considerable concern. i want to bring you some news that‘s coming in from the old bailey. a former libyan militia fighters who murdered three friends in redding last summer, you may remember this horrific attack. it has been described in court as a terrorist attack. in the last few moments, we are hearing that sadala has been given a life order at the old bailey. thejudge said given a life order at the old bailey. the judge said the attack was motivated by islamist extremism. he admitted murdering james furlong, david wales and jozsef richie bennett during an attack. he admitted three counts of attempted murder during the same attack. whole

life order are rarely passed in british courts. last year no one received such a sentence. the judge said that for each murder, the appropriate starting point is a whole life order saying that he is sure it was done for advancing a political, religious or ideological cause and he added it was clear that sadala does not have a mental illness and knew exactly what he was doing. the victims were doing no more than enjoying each other‘s company on a summer‘s evening. we are expecting to hear from police officers and relatives of the victims who were in court. a whole life tariff for sadala. more from the old bailey when we get it. we

are hearing from the government about how they plan to get everybody eligible vaccinated by autumn. yes, we got that detail today about just how that will be done. when you think back to early december when this started, there were fewer than 100 hospital hubs providing that vaccine. today there are more than 200 hospitals and 200 local vaccination centres. the delivery plan which you mentioned has just been published says they will be 2700 vaccination centres set up eventually and we heard first at the public accounts committee from sir simon stevens, the head of nhs england, and he set out how much work was going into getting this up and running. he said there has been and running. he said there has been a steady increase in vaccination

rates. in the first three weeks, 1 million people vaccinated, but since then we have now topped 2.5 million and he says we are on course for that mid february deadline of vaccinating all the over 70s and front—line health and care workers. he talked about it being a sprint to mid—february and then another sprint to the end of april to get all the over 50s vaccinated. he then said it would be a marathon to offer the vaccine to the whole population by the end of october. and the pressure on the whole vaccination system made clear, we heard from professor chris whitty of course, who said we are in for the darkest weeks of this pandemic. indeed, these are going to be very difficult weeks because whilst the vaccination programme is getting going, it takes several weeks for people to develop immunity and it‘s going to be mid—february before we see those big numbers vaccinated. in the meantime, the hospitals are under severe pressure. one of the things we then touched on

in the committee hearing was the importance of supply because the nhs can have all the vaccination centres staff are trained but can‘t get the apply to these centres as quickly as they need and that will be a real problem for the uk. we got over 360 million doses on order but at the moment, the two approved vaccines that are being used, we got around 20 million doses already in the country, enough to do the over 70s but as soon as we start expanding it out to other age groups were going to have to get more vaccines into the country, manufactured, throughout the safety checks to ensure we can do the over 50s and eventually the rest the population. let‘s return to the breaking news that 26—year—old khairi saadallah who killed three men in a park and injured three others has been sentenced to a whole life order. our

home affairs correspondent daniel sa nford home affairs correspondent daniel sanford reminded us of the case. his report contains some distressing details. a load of people have been stabbed. how many people? i don't know. it was a warm summer evening. we need police and ambulances! all the ambulance as you can get! roger smith had just witnessed a deadly terrorist attack. it had been caught on cctv. get loads of police here now! do it now! he‘s throwing the knife away and he‘s headed towards reading town hall. the attacker, khairi saadallah, was hunted down moments later by an armed police and arrested. in the park, three friends lay dying. inspirational history teacherjames furlong, leading research scientist david wales and american pharmaceutical manager jozsef richie bennett. khairi saadallah had taken less than a

minute to kill them, each with a single targeted stab wound to the back or neck but he did not stop there. after he managed to stab the person, he started charging towards me and my mate. we got up from where we we re me and my mate. we got up from where we were sat and had to run. the image of him charging towards me shouting... it‘s something that i have to sometimes shut down in my head. khairi saadallah was a failed asylu m head. khairi saadallah was a failed asylum seeker who had never been deported. he was originally from libya where he fought in the civil war aged just 15 before fleeing to britain after a militia took out a fatwa against him. here, he was in and out of prison for violent offences. injail, he would seen and out of prison for violent offences. in jail, he would seen to mix with infamous extremist abu izadin and was briefly brought to the attention of m15 as someone who

might travel to syria but was discounted as a threat. he walked free from his last prison sentence just two weeks before the attack. this man who was in jail with just two weeks before the attack. this man who was injail with khairi saadallah told me he was known for his jihadist saadallah told me he was known for hisjihadist views saadallah told me he was known for his jihadist views and wanted to "rape britain". yoga said he would like to go on a rampage and kill people because he said a few times that he would love to kill people. "i am a murderer." people used to laugh because he was a bit of a clown in prison but then obviously he was being more serious than we took him for. three days before the murders, khairi saadallah visited the gardens where he was to carry out his attack on an apparent reconnaissance trip. he bought the weapon, a large carving knife, in morrisons. you're not in trouble,. khairi saadallah was visited by police after his brother called

them, concerned about his mental health. in the room was the bag containing the knife, but he reassured them and they left. khairi saadallah‘s brother feels his warning had not been taken seriously enough. i asked for the police to detain him under the mental health act. less tha n less than 24 hours later, khairi saadallah set off with the same weapon in his backpack, walking into reading, peering into the park to identify his first victims, heading toa identify his first victims, heading to a quiet spot to put the knife into his shorts, and then, just as he had said in prison a few weeks earlier, heading out to kill as many people as he could.

helena wilkinson is outside the old bailey. thejudge, in sentencing, issuing a tariff that we don‘t hear very often. that's right. a whole life tariff means that khairi saadallah will never be released from prison. they are rarely handed out. there wasn‘t one handed out last year but they are reserved for the most serious of crimes and in court eight here at the old bailey, estherjustice sweeney, sentencing, in front of the families of the three men murdered by khairi saadallah on thatjune evening last year, they listened asjustice sweeney passed that whole life tariff on khairi saadallah. he was made to stand as the judge sentenced him. in his sentencing remarks, the judge said that the three friends we re judge said that the three friends were doing no more than enjoying each other‘s company as lockdown

restrictions were just being lifted lastjune. restrictions were just being lifted last june. the restrictions were just being lifted lastjune. the judge went on to say he had no doubt that all six offences he had no doubt that all six offe nces ha d he had no doubt that all six offences had a terrorist connection and he also, daniel mentioned that knife that khairi saadallah used and bought the day before he carried out these attacks. the judge set against a background of combat training and experience, the knife, which was an eight inch blade, was chosen by khairi saadallah with care to ensure the maximum likelihood for swift and fatal injury each time it was used. thejudge also pointed out fatal injury each time it was used. the judge also pointed out that the three men who were killed had no time at all to defend themselves. khairi saadallah carried out the attacks on the three of them in less than a minute and then he didn‘t stop there, he then went on to stab three other men. they survived, but thejudge talked three other men. they survived, but the judge talked about the victim impact statements that he said he

read with care, and the psychological damage that continues for them is apparent. so khairi saadallah, who carried out what appreciation had said in a hearing a couple of weeks ago, a ruthless and lethal attack amounting to execution, has been sentenced to a whole life tariff meaning he will never be released from prison. chancellor of the exchequer rishi sunak is updating on help for small businesses. while the vaccine provides hope, the economy is going to get worse before it gets better. many people are losing theirjobs. businesses are struggling. our public finances have been badly damaged and will need to repair. the road ahead will be tough. now it is

time for responsible management of our economy, taking the difficult but right long—term decisions for our country. i‘m confident with this government‘s comprehensive support and the determination, enterprise and the determination, enterprise and resilience of the british people, we will get through this, andi people, we will get through this, and i commend this statement to the house. shadow chancellor, anna louise dodds. thank you very much, mr speaker. louise dodds. thank you very much, mrspeaker. cani louise dodds. thank you very much, mrspeaker. can ijoin louise dodds. thank you very much, mr speaker. can ijoin the chancellor in sending my best wishes to the honourable member for bexley and sid. i know! to the honourable member for bexley and sid. i know i speak for everyone when i wish him a speedy recovery. six weeks have passed since the chancellor last address this house.

in that time, the prime minister scrapped his proposed relaxation of public health rules, introduced a new tier 4 level of restrictions for london and large parts of the south east, and then superseded all of that with the imposition of a third national lockdown. after the prime minister's most recent announcement, parliament was, of course, recalled and members were given the opportunity to ask questions of the prime minister, the health secretary and the education secretary. but the chancellor was nowhere to be seen. his sole contribution to a set of announcements that had profound implications for our economy was a 90 seconds video. no indication of how long the new grants are expected to cover, no clarity on how the discretionary funding for local councils has been calculated, not of

how it will be allocated and we heard of funds being divided to the developed nations as new money before the treasury hastily amended its website to reflect that this money had already been committed to in december. we had nothing about what would happen to those people who had started a newjob since the beginning of november and who are now ineligible for furlough. we had nothing about what level the fourth grant for self—employed people would be set at, nor when the grant will be set at, nor when the grant will be made available. we heard nothing for those people who have been excluded from government schemes since the very start and we heard nothing about what the chancellor will do to fix the broken system of support for self—isolation. i was relieved to hear this morning that the chancellor had undertaken to address the house today, but i deeply regret that having last year

blocked measures that would have helped to protect the nhs and secure our economy, today the chancellor appears out of touch, providing nothing new. the purpose of an update is to provide us with new information, not to repeat what we already know. in addition, the chancellor just now already know. in addition, the chancellorjust now give a highly partial picture of the state of our economy, talking of a rise in savings, but mentioning that over 5 million people are estimated to have taken on over £10 billion in debt just to get through the last year. talking of corporate cash buffers, they are not mentioning that city experts have predicted there will be over £100 billion in unsustainable corporate debt by the end of march the chancellor needs to acknowledge the reality of the crisis we face, a crisis made worse by his

government's irresponsibility. without economy having suffered the worst recession of any major economy —— with our economy, and he needs to act accordingly. can i ask him to respond to those questions which businesses and workers desperately need answers. will he update the scheme to reflect the dates? when will he provide detail on new income support schemes? what does he say to people who have been excluded from government support schemes from the very beginning and who still aren't helped by today's announcement? when will we find out how the new discretionary funding will be allocated and on what basis it is

being calculated? allocated and on what basis it is being calculated ? those allocated and on what basis it is being calculated? those classified as extremely vulnerable should be automatically able to work from home. when will the operation begin to deliver for struggling manufacturers? will we have to wait until the budget for solutions to them, as was suggested by his social media account? we had all hoped for a more optimistic start to 2021 but a more optimistic start to 2021 but a new national lockdown and yet more uncertainty about the future. the people of britain understand they have to make sacrifices. they are doing their bit for the national effort while the vaccine is rolled out. they are fulfilling their side of the bargain. the chancellor must fulfil his. thank you and let me

also thank the honourable member opposite for her response and her comments about my honourable friend. i think it is right where possible in this house that we acknowledge those many areas where there is agreement on both sides of this house. for example, on wage support, on business support, on loan guarantees, on funding for critical public services, and tax deferrals, tax cuts, on support for renters, support for homeowners, support for job creation, training, skills, ongoing support for children learning at home, for the self—employed, support for the nhs, the vaccination roll—out and on testing. i could go on. the truth is, politics aside, there is in fact significant unity of purpose in this place, to protect the most

vulnerable, to vaccinate our people as quickly as possible, to reopen our country and finally to rebuild and begin the process of recovery. given this agreement, whilst it is right to acknowledge the difference in degrees and emphasis that the honourable member poses, it is clear that on the fundamentals, there is in fact that on the fundamentals, there is infacta that on the fundamentals, there is in fact a little disagreement. to turn to the honourable member specific areas of concern, with regard to the formula for the local authority grants, the formula for the additional half £1 billion will be the same as the 1.1 billion that was issued shortly before the end of last year with regard to the furlough dates she will be pleased to note that the change in date from the original spring date through to the original spring date through to the new date at the end of october before the announcement of the new scheme and the extension will bring

an additional 3 million people into coverage for the furlough scheme which i‘m sure she willjoin me in welcoming has protected 9 million jobs over the past several months. it is of course already possible for people to be furloughed if they are clinically extremely vulnerable or have childcare difficulties but those decisions are, of course, decisions to be made by individual employers and their employees. it wouldn‘t be right for the government to put a blanket mandate in place. with regard to the various other questions, she is right that the budget is the appropriate place to consider those, given the scale and the fact that all of our major avenues of support have been extended through to the spring. she also finally made one comment, talking about this country having experienced the worst recession out of anyone and i think it is important in this place that people do have the right facts, mr speaker,

particularly when the impact people‘s confidence and understanding of what is happening andi understanding of what is happening and i must point out some facts which the honourable member opposite knows because i‘m sure she will have studied this carefully and she will know that when making international comparisons between the performance of our economy and others, it‘s important that we are careful because everybody calculates things in very different ways and indeed as the office for budget responsibility have mentioned in their latest report, which i‘m sure she will be able to read and as the ons have also highlighted, we calculate the public sector output in this country ina very public sector output in this country in a very different way to almost any other country and it is very clear that the way that we calculate that output, disadvantages as when making those comparisons to other countries, and as independent forecasters have pointed out, when corrected for that difference, mr speaker, what you find a our economic performance is very much in

line with comfortable countries. it is not the worst and i don‘t think it is good for confidence are people‘s understanding of the situation for that to be propagated. throughout this crisis, the government has always been pragmatic. when changes must be made, we have made them and when help has been justified, made, we have made them and when help has beenjustified, we have a lwa ys help has beenjustified, we have always provided it. mr speaker, we are now so always provided it. mr speaker, we are now so close always provided it. mr speaker, we are now so close to always provided it. mr speaker, we are now so close to the end of this difficult period for so many people that i will ask the honourable member opposite at this time to recognise that the national interest is best served by our co—operation, not partisanship. the vaccine roll—out is the most important priority of this government and provides us with the path of getting out of this, to protect people‘s health and releasing the restrictions that are hampering our economic recovery. that should be our focus. i know economic recovery. that should be ourfocus. i know she economic recovery. that should be our focus. i know she will agree with me on that and it is in this spirit and with me on that and it is in this spiritand in with me on that and it is in this spirit and in the best traditions of this house that i hope we will be able to see out this crisis in the

coming months. sir bernard jenkins. cani coming months. sir bernard jenkins. can i thank my honourable studio: will move away from that statement from the chancellor. we missed the topic because we were covering the story about khairi saadallah but rishi sunak said his response to covid was making a difference and said, i am confident our economic plan are supporting the finances of millions of people and businesses but we will not be able to save everyjob and every business, repeating something he said before. he said almost all areas of our economic policy, we are providing companies with greater support than all international peers, some of which you just heard there was denied by miss dodds. the bank of england and imf have recogniser economic response is

making a difference, saving jobs, keeping businesses afloat and supporting people‘s incomes. that‘s what‘s happening in the commons. plenty more analysis of that and the latest vaccination figures and on the warnings from professor sir chris whitty that we are facing darker times before the vaccine‘s benefits kick in. that‘s coming up. but now it‘s time for the weather. hello there. monday morning was a milder start for most of us, that‘s a phrase we have not used so far this year. a westerly wind brought that milder air and it‘s helping to thaw some of the lying snow that we have got across the far northeast. that westerly wind is quite noticeable today, but it is driving in the mild air off the atlantic. the exception, the far north of scotland, and this weather front here, well, with that colder air still producing some snow, it‘s rain, and some of it heavy and relentless across western scotland and northern ireland. more showery in nature into northwest england and north wales. those weather fronts continue to push their way slowly southwards,

quite a lot of cloud generally across the country today, and a noticeable wind gusting inland to 30 miles an hour, 40 miles an hour plus on exposed west—facing coasts. but look at the difference with the feel of the weather, we could see temperatures widely between eight and ten degrees, the only exception is the far northeast, but noticeably milderfor most. through the night tonight, outbreaks of cloud and rain slowly sink their way steadily southwards, and some of that rain, quite relentless along the west of wales. behind it, quite a clearance, so that‘s going to allow this temperatures to fall once again below freezing. elsewhere, it‘s a relatively mild night to come. but it will be cloudy, with outbreaks of light, patchy rain across wales, central and southern england. that whether front sinking into the southwest, and then gradually we will see some sunshine coming through on tuesday. not a bad day for most of us, a nagging, northerly breezejust making it feel cooler on exposed east coasts, four or five degrees the high here.

we keep double digits into the southwest, but unfortunately, it stays cloudy, drab and dreary. now, as we move into wednesday, things get a little tricky. sandwiched in between these pyramid of weather fronts is the milder air, and as it bumps into that colder air that is pushing its way across that east coast, we could, on the leading edge, see a spell of snow. chiefly to higher ground, but it could keep things complicated as we move through wednesday. so you will need to keep abreast of the forecast, it will be rain primarily behind it, again, some of it quite heavy, and look at the difference with the feel of the weather. three or four degrees in the north and east, double figures continuing to the southwest. wednesday into thursday, yes, a spell of rain, possibly some hill snow.

this is bbc news i‘m ben brown. the headlines a race against time — more than 2.5 million vaccinations against coronavirus have been administered across the uk — according to the head of nhs england. but borisjohnson says its still vital people stick to the rules we cannot be complacent of the worst thing now would be for oz to allow success in rolling out the vaccine programme to breed any kind of complacency about the state of the pandemic. it follows a warning from england‘s chief medical officer who says the uk is about to enter the ‘worst weeks‘ of the pandemic i think it‘s really important that everybody and every interaction they have come every day for the next few

weeks, thinks, do i really need to do this? khairi saadallah, a former child soldier in libya — who stabbed three men to death — has been handed a whole—life jail term. he murdered the three friends in a reading park last summer. pressure mounts in washington to strip donald trump of power — after the violent storming of congress last week the bbc delivers its biggest—ever roll out of education resources during this lockdown — with new programmes across tv and digital good afternoon, and welcome to bbc news. the government has published full details of its coronavirus vaccination programme, with plans to have immunised tens of millions of people by the spring.

the plan aims to have all adults in the uk vaccinated by the autumn with millions of doses being given at 2,700 sites. 2.5 million vaccines have been given so far — the aim is to vaccinate 15 million by the middle of february which means there are five weeks in which to carry out up to 12.5 million more. boris johnson described the vaccination programme as a "race against time" , to stop the nhs being overwhelmed by coronavirus patients. he was speaking at a mass innoculation centre in bristol, one of seven which opened across england today. in a statement it said at least two million doses would be given at over 2,700 sites across the uk. earlier, boris johnson described the vaccination programme as a "race against time", to stop the nhs being overwhelmed by coronavirus patients. mrjohnson was at a mass inoculation centre in bristol , one of seven which opened across england today. what we are doing here in bristol todayis what we are doing here in bristol today is launching the first of the mass vaccination centres, we will have 50 of these by the end of the month, in addition to the 250 hospital site, the thousand plus gp sites in the first to go around 200 community pharmacies and we will be

ramping them allup, community pharmacies and we will be ramping them all up, as i speak to you today, we have done about 2 million people, may be a bit more, we have 2000 jobs all in across the whole of the uk, and in the next few days, as we get towards that target of the 15th of february, the 15 million want to do, obviously the nhs is going to be ramping that up massively and it‘s still the case as i talk to you today, that we have done more than any in europe, and the worst thing now for us to allow success in rolling out a vaccine programme to breed any kind of complacency about the state of the pandemic. looking at the roll out of the vaccine, how confident are you that you can hit that target of the

middle of february? a huge amount of ramping up needs to happen. middle of february? a huge amount of ramping up needs to happenm middle of february? a huge amount of ramping up needs to happen. it is a huge, huge ask of the nhs, the army, stjohn‘s ambulance on the other volu nteers stjohn‘s ambulance on the other volunteers you are seeing your today, with loads and loads of people coming together to deliver this and there is no doubt that it‘s a massively stretching target. i spoke this morning about this with all our teams and we believe it is achievable and will put absolutely everything into it, throwing absolutely everything at it to get it done. the uk vaccine task force chair kate bingham and the chief executive of nhs england sir simon stevens have been questioned by mps on the public accounts committee on the logistics of the vaccines roll—out. sir simon said that potentially 12.2 million people in england are eligible for a vaccine in the first four priority groups and the aim is to get them vaccinated by february the 15th. he admitted that the roll—out was ambitious.

this is a sprint to mid february and thenit this is a sprint to mid february and then it will be a sprint from mid february through to the... to extend the vaccination for the rest of the higher groups. it will be a marathon through the summer into the autumn with health and social care offering everybody that jack. our political correspondent chris mason is at westminster. a huge ask, massively stretching target. it isa it is a marathon at a sprint to hit the target, this is the document published

alongside... making the case that the uk is leading the world in terms of the authorisation of vaccines and the accumulation of lots of stocks of lots of various vaccines with the first country in the world authorising the vaccine, three authorised vaccines, more than any other country in the world the document sets out, goes out to save the uk is giving four other vaccine types and then sets out the timeline. a little over a month‘s time. the extremely vulnerable will have

received the first jabs. the extremely vulnerable will have received the firstjabs. they the extremely vulnerable will have received the first jabs. they talk about this network of vaccination centres being set up and there are currently 96% of the population in england within ten miles of a vaccination centre, then if we fast forward the document, i guess that is what matters to us all. in a queue for a vaccine. the second deadline the government set itself was reaching cohorts 5—9 and that was reaching cohorts 5—9 and that was those aged between 50 and 70 with the hope that it will be done by the spring and clearly quite at what point in spring, exactly how you define that, we will have to see, but that is the aim in terms of the sectors that might look particularly vulnerable in phase two, the next stage of the vaccine for those aged under 50.

lets talk more about it was doctor phil greening, professor of logistics at heriot watt university and his research includes the risks and his research includes the risks and logistics involved in supply chains of the vaccine. thank you for being with us. some really tough targets as we‘ve been hearing but do you think they are achievable? they are all achievable with the right sort of resources. the biggest challenge is managing the complexity as you go from a sort of fairly relatively small scale programme and accelerate into this massive programme the size of which we have never seen programme the size of which we have never seen before, and it‘s managing the information flows and complexity, increasing complexity of the supply chain what do you see

happening over the coming weeks and months? you‘ll make any logistic system i think initially clearly, the bottleneck is potentially production. once we clear the production. once we clear the production lines and see them produce vaccines at the rate we need them in the community, the focus inevitably changes to distribution and as we ramp up the size of the programme, the challenge becomes complexity as we deliver to more vaccination sites. and we will be injecting more people. the whole because of the supply chain becomes increasingly difficult as a task. looking at where we are now, would you say generally we as a country

the doses we have obtained we would be administering those 2.5 million vaccine doses? your mac i don‘t think we are doing badly at all. we look to be in a good position going forward. thank you very much indeed. in the last hour, a former libyan milita fighter who killed three friends in a terrorist attack at a park in reading last summer has been told he will never be released from prison. khairi saadallah, who‘s 26, fatally

stabbed james furlong, david wails and joseph ritchie—bennett, and injured three others, on the 20th ofjune last year. the judge at the old bailey found he had been motivated by islamist extremism. helena wilkinson is outside the old bailey. yes, we are expecting in the next couple of minutes or so statements from not only the police but also from not only the police but also from family of the three men who died in what was described in court by thejudge as died in what was described in court by the judge as a swift, ruthless and brutal attack on the three of them. it happened injune of last year, it was in the summer. we can now hear from detective chief superintendent cath burns with that statement. to unfold. it took this terrorist less than ten seconds to kill three innocent men, and then he went on to attack and attempt to

kill another three men before fleeing the scene. in that tiny timeframe, he changed the lives of all those involved forever. he is a committed jihadist, and as we heard in court, he planned his attack in meticulous detail. he has caused unspeakable hurt and distress to the families of all three men who were brutally murdered as they were relaxing and enjoying, socialising with friends on a saturday evening. iam sure with friends on a saturday evening. i am sure there will also be a lasting effect on those who are injured in the attack. the scene for other people in the busy park at that time of the incident was horrendous. i must pay tribute to the many people who have assisted with giving first aid and to have subsequently provided important evidence as part of our investigation. the details heard during this hearing will undoubtedly

have been distressing for the families of the victims and survivors, and i extend my sincere thanks to each and every one of them for their unwavering support throughout this investigation. i must also recognise the dedication and tenacity of all the investigators, police officers and police staff from counterterrorism policing south east and our other collea g u es policing south east and our other colleagues in bringing this case to court and getting this final sentence hearing today. thank you. brief statement they are from detective chief superintendent kath barnes. back to helena at the old bailey and the detective superintendent they are saying what a quick and sudden, and vicious attack this was. ten seconds to kill three innocent people. yes, and it happened just as lockdown restrictions in june happened just as lockdown restrictions injune were starting to lift, the friends had met in a park in the town of reading in

berkshire on one afternoon lastjune and the attack was incredibly quick and, as! and the attack was incredibly quick and, as i say, thejudge described it as and, as i say, thejudge described itasa and, as i say, thejudge described it as a brutal, swift and ruthless attack. he also, in his sentencing remarks, said he had no doubt all of the offences had a terrorist connection and we know khairi saadallah, 26 years old, came to the uk in 2012, he had sought asylum and was in and out of the courts, he was convicted for a number of very serious offences throughout those yea rs serious offences throughout those years and it was when he was in prison two weeks... we can now cross over to the family ofjames furlong, his father talking now. their lives now impacted by the events. on the facts of this case, there are now

serious questions that need answering, most notably how the killer was ever any position to commit these horrific acts. seeking asylu m commit these horrific acts. seeking asylum here in 2012, he has obtained asylum here in 2012, he has obtained a litany of criminal convictions including assault on the public, police and emergency services. along with carrying a bladed weapon. whilst in prison, it was decided in june 2022 weeks prior to that attack that his deportation was in the public interest but for legal reasons could not happen. despite his criminal history and threats made before the attack, he was then released back into society immediately and was freely able to commit this horrendous act on the public. james was a wonderful man and we are now to focus on all the

good things about james' life. i thank you. that was the father of james furlong, he was a history teacher in the local area and you can hear the distress following what happened to his son, speaking their own behalf of his family and i think we can now hear from another family member of david wales who was a leading research scientist and he was talking in just a few minutes outside the old bailey with a statement on behalf of him. this is andrew, doctor david wales‘ brother. firstly, we would like to expect that might express our gratitude to all those involved in the case and thank those people out

in the immediate aftermath of the horrific offence in the park last june. members of the public are trying to save the lives of those attacks, the paramedics, and on service and police officers who all assisted at the scene. we also would like to thank the people of reading, including the lg bt like to thank the people of reading, including the lgbt community, for the ring of love and support they‘ve shown us on the other families of those involved. david‘s work collea g u es those involved. david‘s work colleagues and the employer have been so very kind to us and spoken so been so very kind to us and spoken so highly of him, showing the respect they had for him and his work as a friend and colleague. we would like to say a huge thank you to the police who have worked tirelessly to ensure justice has been done for david, james, joe and the other three victims in this case along with the prosecution team in particular alison morgan. we will forever be grateful to our family liaison officers maggie and victoria... who have held a hand through this horrific ordeal every step of the way without whom we couldn‘t have got through it. ross isa couldn‘t have got through it. ross is a family, it‘s been devastating to lose our much loved son, brother

and uncle. we know that our lives in the eyes of everyone he knew and loved david will never be the same, we love you, david, mate you, james and joe now rest in peace. that was the brother of david, doctor david wales, andrew wales, speaking about his brother. david wales was a leading research scientist and again you can hear the distress speaking outside court there. we are expecting to hear from the family of joseph richie bennett, who was american and he was a pharmaceutical manager. we expect to hear from either a family liaison officer and we can hear from them now. joe was a

devoted and loving husband, a man who cared strongly about family, his generosity, warmth and laughter afforded him countless friends with whom memories are shared. sadly the events that took place cut short his right to a full and vibrant life. you will always be loved and never forgotten. my family will like to thank every single police officer involved in this case and to the prosecution team that led to securing today‘s conviction, the work and support has been immeasurable. unfortunately, no amount of justice will ever immeasurable. unfortunately, no amount ofjustice will ever bring backjoe, james and david the lives they deserve and never will it allow family members, loved ones, friends and those who witnessed the attack to forget the 20th ofjune 2020.

that was stephen bennett, the brother—in—law of one of the three victims, joseph richie bennett, he was 39 years old, he was from america, he was a pharmaceutical manager. the family, as you‘ve just had there, very difficult for them to give statements outside of court in the first time we‘ve heard from some of them as well and as the judge sentenced khairi saadallah, 26 yea rs judge sentenced khairi saadallah, 26 years old, to a whole life tariff, the family sat in silence as that sentence was passed. it is rare for a whole life tariff to be passed, a sentence like that wasn‘t handed down at all last year but the judge said it was an extremely serious offence and he said during his sentencing remarks he had no doubt that all the offences had a terrorist connection and he also

said that the men who he murdered we re said that the men who he murdered were doing no more than enjoying themselves in that park injune of last year, so 26—year—old khairi saadallah has been sentenced to a whole life tariff and what that means he will never be released for having three men and attempting to murder —— murdering three men and attempting to murder three others. some breaking news in the last few seconds, and the united states, democrats in the house of representatives have just introduced impeachment proceedings against president trumped over the storming of congress last week by a pro—trump mob of rioters and the president is accused of incitement of insurrection. let‘s get the latest on that from gary o‘donoghue, our washington correspondent. tell is a bit more about what happens next. well, there will be this resolution that real attempt to —— will attempt

to persuade mike pence that allows for him and a majority of the cabinet to remove the president. democrats expected to give him 24—hour is to respond to that and if not, they will push that through in which case they will move ahead with the articles of impeachment as you just mentioned, accusing of incitement for insurrection and talking of the pressure he put on those people in georgia to find those people in georgia to find those 11,000 votes and that vote could happen in a matter of days as well and so the president could be impeached for a second time which has never happened in american history. if it does go to an impeachment process, what is the point when president trump only has a few days left in power in the white house rose obviously there will never be a whole impeachment trial within that time. yeah, that's

afair point trial within that time. yeah, that's a fair point in a fair question. impeachment means charged, not convicted and so there has to be a trial in the senate but the house can choose when to send those articles of impeachment to the senate for trial and that senate trial could take place three months or so trial could take place three months or so after donald trump leaves office once joe biden or so after donald trump leaves office oncejoe biden has got his cabinet confirmed by the senate and the reason, the only reason they would want to push through with that trial is, if they could have a chance of getting some republicans tojoin them, because i need to be a two thirds majority, but the key point is if you are convicted in such a trial, he wouldn‘t be allowed to hold federal office again which would mean he couldn‘t run again in 2024. thank you very much indeed. the government is being urged to prioritise the vaccination of special education teaching staff to ensure special schools remain open for vulnerable pupils during the pandemic. whilst most schools now closed and learning moved online, special schools are still open for children with additional

and complex needs. educationalists say keeping such schools open should be prioritised as school closures cause "profound" damage for these children. joining me now is matt rooney, principle of st giles school in nottinghamshire — which describes itself as a friendly and aspirational school for children and young people, with a broad range of difficulties. thank you for being with us. what would you like to see happen next on this? i think in order to heap special schools and specialist provisions opening the way the government to buy a gift of the open, we need to have a rethink anti—vaccination prioritisation for staff working on and supporting children with special educational needs. you know the vast majority of our children will be in school during this lockdown. today we heard 82 of our children in school and we are expecting that to be the same so

we think it is key that staff and pa rents we think it is key that staff and parents who are full—time carers in many cases for these children have high prioritisation. are the government and authorities listening to that plea? we are hopeful. i've seen to that plea? we are hopeful. i've seen petitions online and i know the department for education... i really hope they do that because it will not be viable for special schools to remain open throughout the whole of this lockdown and for as many children in school. it has been —— it will be critical and we bent over backwards to administer natural flow test. we deliver 260 lateral flow test. we deliver 260 lateral flow test over the course of the last five days, committing to do it, we wa nt to five days, committing to do it, we want to keep doing it. we know families and children need to be in school accessing permission to stay

safe, be ok, keep the routine and sense of organisation in order to get through this national lockdown. doctors briefly about the special difficulties lockdown presents. 25% of difficulties lockdown presents. 2596 of our children have a profound mental disability and many of them have to stay home to shield. we know children to have profound autism who cannot speak and they can become violent or aggressive, and children with really ad hoc sleeping patterns, complex medical conditions, needing access to physiotherapy, occupational therapy, speech therapy as well as all of the ca re speech therapy as well as all of the care and education that schools and providers are giving at the current time so it feels... really key that we have a think on this to make sure we have a think on this to make sure we are going to be there, notjust

this week but also for the weeks and possibly months to come. why try thanks much indeed. staying on the theme of education. the bbc is launching its biggest ever roll out of education resources during this lockdown in new programming across tv and digital platforms. they will include three hours of primary school programming every weekday on cbbc, and at least two hours for secondary pupils on bbc two. it‘s in response to the move to online classes for many schools, and will offer support for curriculum—based learning to help pupils and teachers with me now is conservative mp rob halfon, the chair of the education select committee. how important is this provision? incredibly important, and it‘s actually very exciting with the bbc could do. it is put on television, because we know there is a huge

digital divide in our country with hundreds and thousands of young children not having proper access to the internet but we know also of homes have a television set and i know this will make a huge difference and i think it‘s possibly one of the best examples of public service broadcasting you could have. it isa service broadcasting you could have. it is a worry, isn‘t it? with so much teaching now online, it‘s a question of haves and have—nots. people who have laptops, good computers, internet, good broadband and people who frankly do not have any of those things. this is it and the government‘s laptop scheme as well, nearly 600,000 laptops going out and they say there will be 1 million in total but despite that, we still know that there are many families who have access to one phone between the few of them that

may be using it. so television is a really important medium and, in some ways, we need to go back to the future and what i mean by that as we used to have open university on television when i was growing up and many people of an older age group would watch it to try and learn and study higher education but i would like to see the bbc build on this and have a permanent education channel that is on all day that pa rents channel that is on all day that pa re nts ca n channel that is on all day that pa rents ca n access channel that is on all day that parents can access and you press your red button depending on what year you are your red button depending on what yearyou are in your red button depending on what year you are in but in the meantime, what the bbc is doing is quite remarkable and it should make a big difference to television. and whether they are in secondary school. you're watching bbc news. to stay with us.

—— do stay with us. hello, this is bbc news. with ben brown. the headlines: a race against time — more than 2.5 million vaccinations against coronavirus have already been administered across the uk, according to the head of nhs england. but borisjohnson says it‘s still vital people stick to the rules. we cannot be complacent. the worst thing now would be for us to allow success in rolling out a vaccine programme to breed any kind of complacency about the state of the pandemic. it follows a warning from england‘s chief medical officer,