you all across, he is not shy, as you all know. these tweets were relentless, and these tweets all centred on his singular focus, and these tweets all centred on his singularfocus, his drumbeat and these tweets all centred on his singular focus, his drumbeat to motivate, anger and insight his supporters, his big lie. the presidential election had been rigged, it had been stolen from him, and they had to fight to stop it. and the timing was no coincidence. he sent 3a tweets because this was his last chance to rile up his supporters before the big, historic wild event he had planned. now i won't go through all these tweets, but let me just highlight a few. at 1am he tweeted, "if but let me just highlight a few. at 1am he tweeted, "vaice president pence comes through for us, we will win the presidency. mike can send it back." this will look familiar because lou just showed you how trump was privately pressuring his

vice president to stop certification. and when vice president pence refused, explaining that the constitution does not allow him to stop... that the constitution does not allow him to step- - -_ him to stop... thank you for watching. — him to stop... thank you for watching, bye-bye. - hello and welcome to the special edition of the big debate, and your questions answered. we are live on the bbc asian network, bbc two, bbc news channel, and on bbc world news. i'm clive myrie it, and as concerns grow over the hesitancy of some people in the black and asian community to have the covid—19 vaccine, we will be answering your questions this hour on misinformation and concerns over the vaccine and what's behind the apparently low take. i'm pleased to

say we are joined by professor jonathan van town. welcome to the bbc, jonathan, good to see you. if you've got a question for him, get in touch using the hashtag bbc your questions or e—mail us. let’s in touch using the hashtag bbc your questions or e-mail us.— questions or e-mail us. let's get strai . ht questions or e-mail us. let's get straight into _ questions or e-mail us. let's get straight into it, _ questions or e-mail us. let's get straight into it, professor. - questions or e-mail us. let's get straight into it, professor. our. straight into it, professor. our first question comes from francis, a development producer from first question comes from francis, a development producerfrom london. over to you, francis. development producer from london. over to you, francis.— over to you, francis. hello, good morning. — over to you, francis. hello, good morning, thank— over to you, francis. hello, good morning, thank you, _ over to you, francis. hello, good morning, thank you, gentlemen. | over to you, francis. hello, good i morning, thank you, gentlemen. my question— morning, thank you, gentlemen. my question more — morning, thank you, gentlemen. my question more as _ morning, thank you, gentlemen. my question more as a _ morning, thank you, gentlemen. my question more as a fave _ morning, thank you, gentlemen. my question more as a fave follow—up . morning, thank you, gentlemen. myl question more as a fave follow—up on the headiines— question more as a fave follow—up on the headlines and _ question more as a fave follow—up on the headlines and just _ question more as a fave follow—up on the headlines and just wanted - question more as a fave follow—up on the headlines and just wanted to - the headlines and just wanted to know_ the headlines and just wanted to know whether— the headlines and just wanted to know whether the _ the headlines and just wanted to know whether the vaccine - the headlines and just wanted to know whether the vaccine will i the headlines and just wanted to| know whether the vaccine will be something — know whether the vaccine will be something that's _ know whether the vaccine will be something that's mandatory - know whether the vaccine will be i something that's mandatory going down _ something that's mandatory going down the — something that's mandatory going down the line. _ something that's mandatory going down the line, particularly- something that's mandatory going down the line, particularly in - something that's mandatory going down the line, particularly in the i down the line, particularly in the areas _ down the line, particularly in the areas of— down the line, particularly in the areas of travel. _ down the line, particularly in the areas of travel. what _ down the line, particularly in the areas of travel. what is - down the line, particularly in the l areas of travel. what is something that is— areas of travel. what is something that is mandatory— areas of travel. what is something that is mandatory for— areas of travel. what is something that is mandatory for citizens - that is mandatory for citizens before — that is mandatory for citizens before those _ that is mandatory for citizens before those after— that is mandatory for citizens| before those after mentioned that is mandatory for citizens - before those after mentioned things are allowed? —

before those after mentioned things are allowed?— are allowed? thanks for that question- — are allowed? thanks for that question. the _ are allowed? thanks for that question. the truth - are allowed? thanks for that question. the truth is - are allowed? thanks for that question. the truth is in - are allowed? thanks for that question. the truth is in the | are allowed? thanks for that - question. the truth is in the uk, we have _ question. the truth is in the uk, we have never— question. the truth is in the uk, we have never mandated vaccines. it isn't _ have never mandated vaccines. it isn't something we've ever done nick and i isn't something we've ever done nick and i don't _ isn't something we've ever done nick and i don't think we have a culture of it _ and i don't think we have a culture of it but — and i don't think we have a culture of it. but your question is about travel— of it. but your question is about travel and — of it. but your question is about travel and covid—19 vaccines and, whilst _ travel and covid—19 vaccines and, whilst i _ travel and covid—19 vaccines and, whilst i think i've laid out the british— whilst i think i've laid out the british position that we normally take with — british position that we normally take with vaccines, i can't tell you how take with vaccines, ican't tell you how other— take with vaccines, i can't tell you how other countries will react to us, reect— how other countries will react to us, react to _ how other countries will react to us, react to the idea of international travel in the kind of post covid — international travel in the kind of post covid pandemic world, and whether— post covid pandemic world, and whether in fact other countries will themselves insist that visitors are vaccinated~ — themselves insist that visitors are vaccinated. i don't know the answer to that, _ vaccinated. i don't know the answer to that, and — vaccinated. i don't know the answer to that, and i— vaccinated. i don't know the answer to that, and i don't think other countries — to that, and i don't think other countries yet know the answer to that _ countries yet know the answer to that so — countries yet know the answer to that. so much as i'd like to give you a _ that. so much as i'd like to give you a clear— that. so much as i'd like to give you a clear steer, i don't think i

can _ you a clear steer, i don't think i can but — you a clear steer, i don't think i can but i — you a clear steer, i don't think i can. but i can say that it is certainly— can. but i can say that it is certainly plausible that people will start to _ certainly plausible that people will start to frame things that way. and that's— start to frame things that way. and that's really, at the moment, as i said in— that's really, at the moment, as i said in the — that's really, at the moment, as i said in the introductory comments, about— said in the introductory comments, about the _ said in the introductory comments, about the presence of new variants and the _ about the presence of new variants and the effective vaccines, and how people _ and the effective vaccines, and how people are — and the effective vaccines, and how people are very cautious at the moment— people are very cautious at the moment about new variance and where they can _ moment about new variance and where they can take hold around the world. professor, you mentioned that we have never mandated vaccines here in this country, but these are unprecedented times. also, a lot of people have been suggesting that there have been numbers that are lower than we expected from certain minorities and certain communities in the uptake of vaccines as well. if we did make it something mandatory, wouldn't that help to address the issue of low vaccine uptake for certain groups?

while it sounds very attractive on the face of it to make something mandatory, what you do is you create resistance. i would much rather a world where people understand the value of vaccines and understand that we have a system in the uk where we receive recommendations from an independent committee, the joint committee on vaccination and immunisation and we follow those, and that committee makes those decisions in the best interests of patients and the best interests of public health. so i think that's the right way to go, to do it on the grounds of clinical and public health need, not on the grounds of forcing people to do it. now, i think your right to raise

the fact that we do have concerns, i have concerns, that uptake in the minority ethnic groups is not going to be as rapid or as high as in the indigenous white population of the uk. and this really concerns me because the big message i have for everyone listening is that this virus just doesn't care what ethnic background you are from. it doesn't care about the colour of your skin, where you live in the world, or any of these things. it just cares that you are a human being, you don't have immunity and you are susceptible. this is really worrying and it's a massive concern to people who are older and have high—risk conditions. the virus just doesn't discriminate. thank you for that question. we can now move on to pravina pathmanathan, a 26—year—old bengali and tamil analyst from ilford.

it has been shown the oxford vaccine might only have a 10% efficacy - against the south african strain. inaudible. i miss the last bit of your question. i will come back to it. the first thing is, there is now a study that is from south africa that relates to the astrazeneca vaccine that has not yet been peer reviewed but is on the print service, which shows there is relatively low protection against infection in a particularly young population in south africa. the measurement was of mild disease. i haven't heard the 10% figure you have referred

to, nothing that low. yes, that study exists, and be very cautious in how you interpret it. i am not sure that really tells us about whether the vaccine is still going to be really important in terms of protection against severe disease and protection in the older age group. they are the people most at risk. it would be a very big public health win indeed if all the vaccines we are deploying simply stop people going into hospital, even if they don't flatten the infection rate. that would be a major public health victory. and finally, the study you have seen relates to the south african variant. there are really very low numbers of identified south african variant cases in the uk at the moment.

it is less than 200. from that perspective, it's not our major threat right now. the thing that will kill people in the next one or two months in the uk, is the problem we have with our own circulating virus, which is the kent variant, as we now know it. we have good data now that the vaccines are very effective against the kent variant. from that perspective, i think it's not today's problem, the south african variant. but you also asked a question about whether we will be in a position where, as the virus changes, we are likely going to have to change the vaccine to match it over time, and to revaccinate, probably the most high—risk populations. and i think that's right. i think it's the likely, not totally assured,

but that is the likely future. it may well look like the annual influenza programme as things settle down over a period of years. the fact is, professor, that the longer the virus is out there, the more mutations and strains we will get. so this will be a fact of life for us for some time. yes, i think that's true, but please remember there are, if not hundreds, probably thousands of mutations of covid—19 already. and most of them are insignificant, and most of them do not give the virus any kind of advantage at all. we will be looking out for the ones that materially change what we would call the public health risk. the uk is really in an incredibly strong position in terms of the quality and the amount of genomics sequencing it can do

to pick up these new variants and spot them early. let's go now to a labour party activist from manchester, 18 years old, someone who works with young people in the city and wants to ask you a question. over to you. hello. thank you and good morning. my question is, what is- the government doing to ensure ithe vaccine is safe for everyone, i especially those among the black, asian and minority ethnic community? the government has done a great deal to make sure the vaccine is safe. both vaccines we are using have been approved by the independent regulator, the mhra, who work independently and give their own opinion about whether vaccines are suitable in terms of safety, in terms of effectiveness and in terms of the quality of the manufacture. and they have looked

at all the available data around the world and they monitor the safety of those vaccines honestly on a daily basis. there is a system called the yellow card system, which anybody can use. if you google mhra yellow card then you can find that for yourself. if you have a vaccine, not just... or even medicine, any kind of pharmaceutical used in the uk, if you have it and you think you have had some kind of reaction or side effect to it, you can report that on the yellow card system. that is being done every single day spontaneously by the public in relation to the covid—19 vaccines we have deployed. we are well over the 12 million mark now in terms of vaccines we have deployed. we are getting to a point where if we are going to see any kind of safety signal it would be pretty obvious by now.

these data are shown to us, the mhra monitor them and the mhra have published them. you can find those on the mhra website, and there is really very reassuring signal right across the board in terms of both vaccines we employed to date. you mention there that 12 million people have now taken the vaccine. how many of those are from a bame background? why aren't stats being published to show how many people from each ethnic minority background are taking this vaccine? i think they are very difficult data to gather. sorry, why is it difficult to gather? you have a register, and everybody�*s details are being taken when they have a vaccine. ethnicity data is being collected.

you are right, but it does take time to collate it and be sure of the signals contained within it. i am sure that will be forthcoming in due course. but i do have some personal concerns that uptake will be lower in the ethnic minority groups. i am concerned about that because the virusjust doesn't discriminate. thank you for that. we can go tojulie vincent, from weston—super—mare, an nhs worker at a covid vaccine clinic. she is currently isolating. she received the pfizerjab on january seven and tested positive for coronavirus on february five. we are going on about astrazeneca not working against variants. - and to a degree my pfizer hasn't worked against -

the variants, what's out there. are we leaving nhs workers and front i line workers susceptible to getting i coronavirus because we are not - immunising them in the three weeks? the delay i agree with it - because we want as many people immunised as possible but obviously we can shelter but we _ have to go to work. therefore, are we more prone to getting it - by delaying to 12 weeks? also, i had no symptoms - and the flow tests i was doing at work were negative. is it because it is mutating - and are there different symptoms? there is a lot in there! that's quite a complex case. i will try to unpick it for you. the first thing you said was, we are talking about the astrazeneca vaccine not working against the variant. i wasn't talking about that.

i was talking about the astrazeneca vaccine showing lower efficacy against infection in a younger population in south africa to a variant that is very dominant in south africa but absolutely not dominant here. i hope i was quite clear that i am judging effectiveness about keeping people out of hospital and avoiding severe disease. i think the vaccines are going to work for that. i know you raise lots of other things. remind me, if i have missed any of them. the next one is that you had a first dose of the pfizer on the 7th ofjanuary, i think you said. yes. and you are off work because you have coronavirus? i tested positive, i had five days of thinking i had a bad cold. -

that is unfortunate, but it isjust a case in point that vaccines are never 100% effective. although you are unfortunately one of the people who has caught coronavirus, there are many, many, many more people in your position, who without the vaccine would have caught coronavirus, and because they have had the vaccine, now haven't caught the virus. we are hoping there will be data coming out soon that makes that point pretty clearly. the next thing is to say, you said the lateral flow test failed to pick up your infection. but obviously a pcr did. that's one of the things about lateral flow tests, they are not as sensitive as pcr

but we do know they are pretty good at picking out people who are infectious to others. and so, if you had a very low virus load, lateral flow might be negative. you just said to me, i think you said, but it was a complex question you gave me. i think you said you haven't got many symptoms. i had a very bad cold. it wasn't until the fourth day of the evening that i started| coughing and thought i would get tested to be safe. _ it was on the fifth day i when the results came, i thought i would do a lateral flow test, i did another one, _ and that one on the fifth day showed positive. - but for four days i was going around sneezing with a runny noses - and i put it down to a bad cold. i am worried there are people with covid colds walking - around and not realising. they have the symptoms. i made sure i could smell- and taste by putting perfume on and cooking apple and cinnamon.

no symptoms really appearred until late in the infection. - they were quite mild symptoms and that might be the fact the vaccine has given you a more mild illness, allowed you to have a more mild illness than you would have had without it. back to my point, i believe these vaccines will avoid serious illness. professor, you said a little earlier, and in a recent press conference, that the kent variant would be the dominant strain here. what do you base that on and why are you so convinced the south african strain is not going to become a big problem? i didn't say the kent strain would be the dominant strain. i said it is the dominant strain. as far as the testing and sequencing goes, it is over 90% of our cases that are now from that variant that was first identified in kent.

now, the reason i said the south african variant was not of concern, or unlikely to take over in the next few months, is because the rate of growth of the south african variant, as far as we are monitoring it, and remember i gave you a figure earlier of significantly under 200 cases that we know about, it is not overtaking. let me do it this way, if you are running a bath and you have the hot water tap on, and you add in a very small amount of cold water, so the cold tap is running as well, but at a low volume, your bath water is basically going to remain hot.

it is only if that cold tap was gushing much more than the hot tap, would the cold water would take over. that's probably the best analogy i can give. the south african variant is not running up that kind of speed at the moment, so i don't frame it as something that will be a dominant issue in the next few months. thank you. we can now go to anjum peerbacus, a teacher in her 40s from stanmore in london with a question i believe many parents and teachers will want asked. as a teacher who has suffered from covid previously- when schools were open, - i want to know if the government is serious about taking precautions before it reopens at schools - as regards to vaccination of school staff? - is there a plan to vaccinate school staff, all school staff, _

before we look out reopening schools in order to safeguard students - and teachers and school staff in that event? - thank you for the question. right now we are not quite halfway through a programme that is aiming to vaccinate the people in this country who are at maximum risk of dying from covid or being hospitalised with severe disease. it begins with the elderly and then runs down through the ages, blending in people 18—64 years of age, as well, at cohort number six, with high risk conditions as identified and demarcated by the expert committee, the jcvi.

so, a teacher who is 50 is already in our sites as part of the vaccine rolled out for phases 1—9. a teacher who has high risk conditions as identified by thejcvi, irrespective of their age, is already picked out in that phase one of the vaccine programme. when we get to the end of the phase one vaccine programme and we have covered those high risk people who are those at greatest risk of dying from covid, then the government will look, ministers will make decisions, about what they want to do next in terms of the vaccine programme. and that is a decision that will be taken by ministers, and it is at that point that questions about specific occupational groups will be addressed. we are getting a lot of questions on social media about fertility

and the impact these vaccines might have on people who might be trying to conceive. what information can you give to people out there in this situation right now? is it safe for them to take a vaccine? yes, yes. i have just never heard of a vaccine that affects fertility. i was discussing this only yesterday with the chief medical officer. we recognise that this is a nasty, pernicious scare story, but that's all it is. it is deliberately designed to target people's worries and aspirations in life. but it isjust completely and utterly groundless. thank you for that. we can go on to sukhi kaur, 36 from birmingham, a stay at home mother.

thank you, professor. i am a cancer patient, - so i have been on the clinically vulnerable and shielding list - since the start of the pandemic. my immediate family, _ like many others in my situation, have effectively been housebound for the majority of last _ year, and all of this . year, to keep me safe. i was offered and took the first dose of the oxford vaccine last week, but i am fearful— of potential long—term side—effects. i know others who are in situations similar to mine from the bame - community who are fearing adverse reactions and side effects due - to the plethora of anti—cancer drugs they are currently taking. _ my question is, what reassurance can you give me and other bame cancer. patients that the vaccine is safe in the long term? _ thank you. thank you for the question. i don't think bame cancer

patients are any different to any other cancer patients. sadly, cancer doesn't discriminate in that way either. i am sorry to hear you have had such an experience. what i can say is that you have been picked out because you are clinically extremely vulnerable for an absolute reason. i am really glad you have had the vaccine, and that is the immediate... coronavirus is the immediate threat to you, not the vaccine. the answer on how i can reassure you, well, you know, 12 million people in the uk have now had the coronavirus vaccine. the mhra safety data, which are published, you can look at them, are incredibly reassuring at this point. that's really good to know. thank you.

professor, you mentioned data due out within days that is confirming the current vaccines are effective. the newspapers this morning are reporting that astrazeneca and pfizer cut the risk of falling ill by something like 65%. is that right? i am hopeful we will have verified data within... it would be nice within a few days, but certainly within one or two weeks we should start to get some signals that are reliable. i don't comment on leaked information. i would offer a lot of caution about leaked information about understanding it and interpreting it properly and potentially that it's preliminary. so i won't comment further on that report in the sun newspaper. we have time to squeeze in one more question.

we can speak to 29—year—old jag bhabra who runs the family pharmacy in windsor. hello. i'm 31, unfortunately! planning on mobilising local pharmacies in vaccinating i lower priority groups, _ or would you be looking to do it now to take pressure off vaccine centres which have been anecdotally - super spreader centres? thank you for the question. matters are quite exactly which services in which particular areas we use for vaccine deployment are not my territory. they are the territory of the national health service, who are responsible for the roll—out and deployment programme. what i can say is that there are collective, whole of system, whole of government determination and the only thing that will ever slow us down is how much vaccine we have.

obviously we are very lucky, frankly, in the uk to have the supplies we do. there are many nations around the world that would dream of being in the position we are in. but nevertheless, vaccines are difficult to produce. the scale up of the manufacturer is new to the manufacturers, and we are determined we will go at the speed at which we have access to vaccines. professor van tam. we had a bbc investigation today about the whereabouts of some of the misinformation coming out, and places like whatsapp. are you losing the war on this information on places like whatsapp, facebook and other social media platforms? should the government be doing more to take the fight to users on those platforms?

staff we are always concerned when we get disinformation and things which are just potently and potently misleading and designed frighten people and damage their confidence in what we are doing, which i believe in absolutely passionately, i have to say. but all the polls show that vaccine confidence is generally really high in the uk compared to many parts of the world. and the enthusiasm and likelihood that people are going to accept covid—19 vaccines when called overall is super high. and you have heard already the kind of statistics that actually the secretary of state announced when standing alongside me at the podium at number 10 on monday. over—805, 90 plus percent.

it might have been 93, off the top of my head. massively high vaccine uptake so far. 75 to 79—year—olds, even higher than that. so the enthusiasm and keenness to be vaccinated is there, people get it that this virus is horrible and it kills you, particularly if you are in a high risk or an elderly group. with ease. and i think vaccine confidence is really high in this country. professor, i just wonder, on a personal level... i think we might have to go. very quickly. i just wonder on a personal level, when you see all these stories, misinformation, how does that make you feel, angry, frustrated? i realise that the vast majority of people in the uk would prefer to take their advice on vaccines from trusted sources, rather than from some of the nonsense that is circulated on social media.

if my central heating system breaks down, i am going to call a heating engineer to explain to me what is wrong and what needs to be fixed and give me the advice on whether the system needs upgrading or whatever. i am not going to ask a brain surgeon to do this. so why would you go to those kind of sources of information when you have really very readily accessible good sources from trusted voices in the nhs? your own health professionals that you know and you see periodically through your life. indeed. let's hope that is the case for the vast majority of the british public. professorjonthan van—tam, deputy chief medical officer for england, thank you very much forjoining us on this edition of your questions answered.

lo. the beast from the east has been tamed. winds are lighter in this show showers, those will continue to fail away. something to in the southeast corner and some coming into the southwest later on before many clear skies and light winds, plummeting temperatures, these are the numbers in towns and cities, we know how cold it has been in the highlands but he could get down to -90 -10 highlands but he could get down to —90 —10 across eastern parts of england by the morning. a frosty and potentially icy stopper many places. if you showers around. showers elsewhere fading away before northern ireland wales, it will cloud over and get windier through the day, we may well find some light rain sleet or snow coming into the far southwest of england. drawing in cold air from continental europe and

after that widespread hard frost in the morning and temperatures in to four celsius.

this is bbc news. making their case: democrats lay out a detailed argument against donald trump, calling him the "inciter—in—chief". house managers have been thorough, meticulous, and relatable. whether they change the outcome is another matter entirely. to make their point, house managers have been using the former president's own words, to tie him directly to the siege on capitol hill. because the truth is this attack never would've happened but for donald trump. democrats argued that trump laid video evidence at the center of their presentation, including footage of proud boys rallying in the weeks after the election.