because we don't have enough for everyone who wants to be vaccinated therefore we will still need other measures to contain the pandemic i'm sent him. a pandemic that is still in full swing in germany the country recorded the highest number of new daily cases on friday and daily deaths are also at record levels high time for a smooth and fast rule out of the vaccine let's bring in political correspondent sonnen young simon it's a critical moment how ready is germany for this vaccine rollout well i think germany has done a lot of preparations anthony of course this vaccine comes at a really critical time for germany because infections have surged in recent weeks and have been hitting records in the last few days with over 30000 new cases and deaths are also up so this is this is a much needed sort of glimmer of hope christmas time the expectation now is that

the europeans medicines agency will approve the biotech phase of vaccine at the beginning of next week it will then be delivered to germany and germany's medicines agency can check the doses to see that they are ok and meet the standards and after that it will be distributed to $400.00 vaccinations senses around the country and vaccinations can start we believe on the 27th of december and there's been a full debate as well about the prioritization with the over eighty's and people in care homes and also care workers getting the vaccine 1st and it's estimated it's going to take a couple of months to give the vaccine to all of that group some of the rice the glimmer of hope do we know how long it will take to vaccinate enough people to return to even a semblance of normality. well the government says that in order to get

herd immunity in other words to have have enough people vaccinated that we can stop worrying or begin to start worrying about covert 19 that will require 60 to 70 percent of the population to be vaccinated how quickly can that happen rather depends on how much vaccine is available we don't know that at the moment 11000000 doses to start with but much more will be needed to vaccinate germany a country of nearly $90000000.00 people so what the government is saying it'll probably be at least the summer before they can roll out vaccinations to all people in germany so it looks like we can have to wait several months without him on the situation in german hospitals is increasingly dire why is the government then allowing a slight easing of rules of the christmas just quickly. well i think it's because of course they made the promises that there would be something like

a christmas celebration possible and it's very difficult for politicians of course to tell people they can't have family gatherings at christmas and they wanted those gatherings to happen inside the rules so they've slightly loosened them but there is concern that of course there will be a spike in infections after christmas some young the deadly political correspondent thank you very much and meanwhile the u.s. has moved closer to approving a 2nd covert 19 vaccine after an independent panel of experts endorsed the shot made by pharmaceutical company modern backing paves the way for the official food and drug administration to allow the vaccine the u.s. has already started its mass immunization with an inoculation made by the by to take pfizer the e.u. under pressure to follow suit says it's speeding up its approval process. let's now take a look at the latest developments in the pandemic and china is planning to vaccinate

15000000 high risk people before the start of its lunar new year at least for chinese made vaccines being tested a study in singapore suggests pregnant women with copd 19 do not become more ill than the wider population the study also found that babies born to infected mothers have antibodies and officials in australia have declared sydney's northern beaches a coronavirus hot spot 21 beaches of being closed residents are being to stay at home ok let's take a look at some of the other stories making news this hour u.s. prison u.s. vice president rather mike pence has been given a coded 19 vaccination live on television the inoculation was broadcast from the white house where parents said he and to promote the safety and effectiveness of the vaccine. u.s. financial markets have opened with some uncertainty as wall street whites 1st told coronavirus economic relief package leaders in congress say they're close to a deal but they are reports that the talks could run into next week.

cyber security officials in the u.s. of warn the government is that quote grave risk from hackers the agency responsible for america's nuclear weapons stockpile was among those targeted this year many suspect russia is behind the attacks moscow denies the claim. more than a dozen children have been killed in a bombing in eastern afghanistan the blast shattered a religious gathering in gaza need province no one has claimed responsibility the area is controlled by the taliban in nigeria hundreds of boys are being reunited with their families after a mass kidnapping that were taken a week ago by armed men from their school in the northern state of katsina nigerian security forces were the ones who rescued the children many of whom side they suffered abuse during their captivity. it's

a sight the world has been waiting for the 344 nigerian school boys free in sight yet they've suffered a terrible ordeal nearly a week in captivity some side they were baten and many of them report that was starved. as it was who or what they hate us in one place then they soar jetfighter change like ation and he did someone else they gave us food but it was very little . and it's been around 24 hours since they were delivered from they kidnapped as they spent their 1st night of freedom with soldiers next day to receive medical checks and only there after the government says cannot go home. for. days but. it has freedom for the boys and relief a nigerian authorities the kidnapping was seen by many as

a symbol of the government's failure to keep people in the country's north saif the rage will likely now bite at least for now or is home new this will return. to prove. the efforts made it hasn't unity our product as. you have. that kind of a need to. believe these are the 300 or 40 fool. could still likely he took the boys from this classroom for their doctrine has again shown a spotlight on the security situation in northern nigeria with bandages and threatens lives and livelihoods alike. correspondent florist joins me now from lagos flourish me just so pictures of the boys arriving at the. governess often in office what more do we know about how they are.

what we know about the boys right now he's that we do it that they have experience i'm not seem on the ground. had the opportunity to talk to one of the boys and he said he feels one describe it joy to just be back contacts be back to safety they haven't yet been reunited with their parents they are still in government custody some of them to sprite that their way meets to walk in the forest on then fruits forms to be the only stuff to sleep in the nights before the t.v. the journey the very giving lunch so you can imagine how the show at the end. flourishes the rescue of the children a victory for the president he had come under a lot of for his handling of the situation. this case has very quickly become a political issue. people on the highways calm believe that this is very much easy

cheap for a president who highly of course because he can't see that's even a reaction because right now as we speak president will how he's going to raid the place de shutdown which we think he seems even before the are united and their families and even for the are giving medical should hold his ground to be the president of course he sees this as good as he has a beat treat while he's a point it's also something that he's using this as and what she needs to make keep the district should look good. and flourish bihari has repeatedly claimed as pain technically defeated what does this kidnap. tell us about their presence and the strength in nigeria. but 1st of all that let's point out that the government has repeatedly refused to instead just talk was not carried

out by boko haram however if you even look at it even if it wasn't carried out by boko haram the fact that it happened in the 1st place tells us that there are many more threats to make you ask security than just because it's very clear tells us that the security conditions in nigeria is rock people need to terrorists and the president claims that even in flights it's being put in place and he's asking nigeria ask for more patience. you know to restore it improve the security conditions in nigeria but if this attack tells us anything it tells us that the security question to shine in a year is getting people hope for their words. corresponding florists law from like us thanks so much. sport and by minute he has won the feat for men's player of the year award after scoring 55 competition goals for the big previous winners

cristiana banal the messy to the prize home helped by him seal the champions league bonus league and the german cup treble it's 32 year old 1st club billboard meanwhile england defender lucy braun's took the women's prize the 29 year old from the champions league with me on before moving to manchester city. and finally many of us are wrapping up warm to fend off chilly winter weather and it's not only we humans who are trying to keep the cold out as in the southern chinese city of has installed a king to protect its animal residents after local temperatures plunge to an all time low it does say the creatures are enjoying being warmer there is however was one exception this shit this is giant pandas are still living it out in the great outdoors chilling if you like this but the freezing weather and a reminder of the top story we're following for you this out germany's health

minister has presented the government's timetable for vaccinating people against countries 19 the elderly and they can't give us will be given top priority with inoculation said to begin on the scene the 27th. coming up next a. special more news for me at the top of the hour for me in the team here in berlin thanks for watching. around. the phone against the coronavirus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research say. information and contacts the coronavirus not day 19. on t w. one out of 8 people who are suffering from hunger. in. the world food program is

fighting over worldwide. to. join the fight. physically draining and emotionally exhausting. health care workers on the front lines of the pandemic are being pushed to the brink. too often their work is only fleetingly acknowledged the w.h.o. says there is a global shortfall of some 6000000 nurses it's an especially big issue in poor countries because qualified workers tend to move abroad for better opportunities. but even in richer nations the worker isn't especially well paid in germany for

example nurses earn 20 percent less than the average wage. coronavirus has brought their experience and faces to the fore. how big a toll is the crisis having on health care workers. welcome here covered 19 special. the already tough job for health care workers has only become more challenging in the pen demick regardless of which part of the world hears the w.'s all over salads with his report from the u.s. state of south dakota. south dakota one of america's least populated states but yet the virus has spiraled out of control here like nowhere else in the u.s. . in the city of sue false a mask mandate was put in place recently without sanctions many citizens remain defiant i think it's

a good idea that people wear masks but some people balk at the idea of being told to do so i think with some of the shutdowns are doing and the picking and choosing that they're doing is making it very difficult for a lot of businesses like most of people nowadays like even ehlers are not right now but i think it's for the best like there's happy. south dakota now sees the highest hospitalisation rate of the u.s. and there is no relief in sight here at the a verum a cannon hospital the intensive care unit is at capacity patients are dying from cold on a daily basis putting a big strain on nurses and doctors who are increasingly overwhelmed by the amount of patients they're seeing every day. out of schroeder is one of them he and his colleagues are working 12 hour shifts trying to save those who are at the brink of death. a task which comes with the personal toll we deal with a lot of dying right now unfortunately not everybody is recovering how we'd like

it's a little harder every day people are coming in typically requiring much oxygen a lot of them end up getting a breathing tube. and from there you know it's just a battle for their life if you talk to their families we do that's one of the tougher things right now is especially for code patients who are not allowing visitors so. talking with families on a daily basis updating him on what we're doing and how the patients doing that's a really big thing right now kind of scene at his weekly press conference mayor paul 10 hakan of the republican party updates his community about the latest developments the mayor has been criticized over his handling of the pandemic i've been hesitant in the 1st place with a mass mandate why is it such a challenge for you to convince your sentence and. in this part of the country i

think there's a fierce independence a lot of people have made the mistake of calling a cowboy country at one point and people didn't appreciate that but the point of that term meaning we're independent we don't like people telling us what to do. christina bjorkman wishes for more government action against the pen demick in october she lost her husband took over at 19 after a 30 day long struggle at the hospital her ordeal. when. she says his death could have been avoided with stricter rules. the whole mask mandate got political and should've never been political and should have been a medical thing. and i think it just got so blown out of proportion and. i think maybe it came from our president he started it. christina bjorkman is pinning her hopes now on the president elect and

a nationwide mask mandate once he takes office before then thousands more could die from cold at 19 in south dakota and around the rest of the united states. now one indicator for how prepared a health system is to battle the coronavirus emergency is the excess ability of intensive care here's a look at the availability of i.c.u. beds in selected countries germany has 33.9 critical care beds for every 100000 people in the united states there are 25.8 and 10.6 intensive care beds for every 100000 people in korea in india that number is at 7.3 and finally mexico 3.3 beds the number of intensive care beds is only one factor having excess capacity is less helpful when there aren't enough personnel to tend to them and that's exactly the problem in many cases let's talk to someone familiar with

the challenges. as the head of the german nurses association he joins me via skype welcome to w. now the germany and europe are stuck in the 2nd wave tell us about the experiences that nurses and other caregivers are reporting back to you. nurses and all health professionals in germany have a heavy burden of workload these days because of that and they make it has reached unprecedented levels and they have to chair take care of many many patients seriously ill patients we know that many patients die of once they have to be admitted in i.c.u. and in particular at the nursing homes the residents are severely ill quite often and many of them have tonight and this is puts a lot of pressure on all health professionals and into the on the nurses in particular. here in germany there are complains that there are not enough nurses to handle the rising number of covered $1000.00 patients and could one also argue that a pandemic simply is such an extraordinary event that hospitals would be

understaffed in any case. both is true to a degree but primarily it's that we do not have enough nurses to take care of patients in normal times so outside and then make compared to other european countries we have a much higher workload some more patients per nurse than others and in of course in a situation like this now and then make every have extreme situations this shortage reaches and you will level and verse and by that. end where is this short of coming from. for many years our governments haven't invested in more nurses we had cut off nurse positions in nurses in the hospitals over the last 15 or started 15 years ago with a new way of financing hospital cost and that has never been revoked and we have

been arguing for more than 10 years that we need more nurses and we have in addition we have an aging workforce so many nurses are going to retire within the next to tell into the rate of years so nobody listens to blades and we hope this will change now some say it's all about the pay which is too low for such a demanding job would more money solve the problem of there not being enough healthcare workers money alone wouldn't be the solution if we ask nurses what they want most it is that they say i want to call the so i want to reduce my workload and then of course on the 2nd doctor a place in what they want is a better salary we have a buy variation between salaries in germany a difference between regions and different between hospitals and nursing homes for example so an increase would be good and our association. is asking for $4000.00 euro as a starting salary for each nurse now during the 1st wave of the pandemic people

start on their balconies and applauded frontline workers we don't see any of that right now does that bother you. not really because you know it is a pleasant pleasant sign or a symbolic gesture. getting some applause applause but to be honest the boats have more benefits if you get better payment more positions for nurses so this is only a kind of a token evens and sounders is there really and up by that because they said oh yeah now in this situation where you're afraid you're giving up loss but in every day even we have difficult situations when we are complaining about to have clothes we don't listen we don't hear anything from you from talking out of the german nurses association thank you for your insights. time now for your questions about the coronavirus here is our science correspondent dirk williams. can we achieve her demeanor see if you can get me in fact it. there are plenty of

questions about this pandemic where we still don't have really clear cut answers like when your immune memory of the virus wanes so much that you could catch it again that's happened to a few people but as far as we can tell not really very many so far and number of studies now indicate that at least in most of us the average amused response to sars cove 2 remains active for for at least 6 months which is positive because the average duration of immunity in individuals either after they've had copd 19 or have received a vaccine against it that will play a defining role and health fast we reach her to munity however even if we do begin seeing greater numbers of re infections relatively soon it would make herd immunity impossible to achieve just harder because it's going to take years though to pin

down the average duration of immunity i'm discussing it now means that you have to make some assumptions if we assume for instance that the duration of immunity and someone who's vaccinated is short say just a year or 2 then herd immunity will be a lot tougher to reach to get there we'd have to vaccinate populations really really quickly and on a wide scale because without a booster shot many people will start getting sick and transmitting again pretty quickly experts say in that scenario if coverage doesn't advance fast enough then sars who too could become endemic and seasonal like the. lou but that least in some places if we assume a more positive scenario that the duration of the munity provided by a vaccine is much longer and and importantly also that vaccinated people can't

transmit the virus to others then herd immunity will be easier to reach because in a manner of speaking once people have been backs unaided they'll stay back summated . that's social thanks for the company stay safe and see yourself.

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want to use today the future of. rebuilding dot com for the city. could turn. this is the debate is africa on the program today nigeria's kidnapped boys they've returned home telling tales of hunger and these things but just how would they brace cute and was a ransom paid. and the abandoned cost rooms in and the phone tema rude the rebels fighting for suspicion have forced the closure of schools in the region denying children their education.