this is news coming to you live from berlin european union rolls out its covert 1000 mass vaccination program and it's a shot of hope as a huge force needed effort gets underway to start immunizing those most groups also in the program for much of december of this city had the world's worst air quality tell you where and one. of the summer olympics in tokyo say the games will go ahead in 2021 month with a pandemic still raging some question whether they should happen it'll.

be good to have you with us germany has set up more than $400.00 centers for its nationwide vaccination drive against kobe at 19 it's a huge undertaking health officials say an immunization rate of 60 to 70 percent of the population will be needed to bring a virus under control our reporters went to the biggest facility in berlin for the start of the roll out. normally a venue for concerts in exhibitions on sunday the queues outside covered 19 vaccines it's the 1st of 6 vaccination centers in the german capital to open its doors. to full my head of germany's civil relief agency was cold out of retirement to lead the pro. ject been ordered so it's

a free i'm satisfied today i'm happy to vaccinations are getting on the way but i'll only be truly satisfied when 2 thirds of people in europe are vaccinated so there's a long way to go but today is the 1st it has. at full capacity the center will be able to deliver $5000.00 injections per day on the 1st day it started with only $150.00 due to limited vaccine supply is up 1st for their injections medical staff and nursing home workers on the front line of the pandemic priority for those providing vital care for others these mice and human life and 2nd i don't want to infect anyone thank god i don't have it my colleagues and i want to stay healthy just like our elderly residents want to do yeah that's just a few kilometers away the 1st of poland seniors were getting their shots as well i think the front of the queue was 101 year old get to.

know sing home residents are among the most vulnerable to coronavirus now doctors hope they can finally be protected. the moment extra deal in the eye at the moment infections are exploding in care homes. it's horrible so we're happy to be the 1st facility to have these vaccinations and to have another tool to keep serious infections out of the home. via an ocular action of priority groups in germany is expected to run until mid 2021 when the vaccine is expected to become free and available to everyone. for more now we're joined by professor toby escorts he's an epidemiologist and the director of the institute of public health at the show hospital here in berlin thanks for being with us professor kurt tell us what you make of germany's covered $1000.00 a nation is it ambitious enough does it have the right priorities. i think the priorities are right we have decided who to vaccine 1st and as you have just heard

nation has started telling her the issue is that we don't have enough vaccines available in the 1st weeks or months so the massive vaccination will likely start in march or even april so the issue is the vaccination i think the centers are ready and the strategy overall is a very good one. how and when will we know that this vaccine is actually working not only in protecting those bax native but also stopping the spread of the fire. so we will see hopefully soon in the nursing homes or another facility the rate of infections will go down on the population level we also expect to see that say we do not have these waifs and say we don't see this bikes off infections as people hopefully get vaccinated so that we can open public life and will not see a spike of infection as before what do you say to those who are not willing to get

the job because there is quite a bit of skepticism concerning safety. yes hopefully many people will decide to get vaccinated those who decide not to get the vaccination will risk death health will risk the health off out of this and will lower the process as we need about 70 percent 60 to 70 percent off the population being that's needed before we reach the so-called herd immunity. i understand that we need about 60 to 70 percent of the population in europe to be vaccinated before we reach that herd immunity that you're talking about is that possible without having the having the vaccination as mandatory. i hope so so making next nation mandatory is not a good idea i think people are afraid and if you men if you make this mandatory that people are getting more afraid so i hope that people understand the importance of

vaccination down to stand next a nation is safe and very effective and eventually get vaccinated 1st record thank you very much for talking with us today professor toby as kurt epidemiologist and director of the institute of public health at the shotty hospital in berlin for thank you for having me. it's sake a look at some of the other stories making headlines today police in cameroon say at least 37 people were killed when the bus they were traveling in hit a truck and plunged into a ravine 10 women and 4 children were among the dead the bus was on its way to the capital yone day from the west of the country. u.s. president donald trump has signed into law all $2.00 trillion dollars worth of pandemic relief and other public spending after a nearly week long delay the move restores unemployment benefits to millions and averts a chaotic government shutdown trumpet earlier threatened to block the bill. in

a chinese citizen journalist has been sentenced to 4 years in jail for reporting for move on during the early months of the pandemic former lawyer chung's shon was detained after making a number of videos criticizing the government's response to the outbreak she was accused of spreading lines. counting is underway in the elections in the central african republic long lines formed at polling stations in the capital bangui while in other parts of the country fewer people went to polling stations because of fears of violence or boycotts the rebel coalition 1st results are expected early next month. fish kek the capital of kyrgyzstan is one of the world's most polluted cities for several years now it's been choked in small for several months over the winter that's when many in the central asian city of 1000000 inhabitants heat their homes with coal fires but with

a credit pandemic hitting the country's economy hard moving away from cheap coal will not be easy as the w.'s sure when found out. coal is selling like hotcakes in the freezing cold winter temperatures in the city of average at minus 6. degrees celcius call is an essential good because homes on the outskirts aren't connected to the city's central heating network. by a lot of these bags sometimes 20 at once as you can see there are private houses all around here and they all heat with coal. that. made headlines several times in december for being the number one most polluted city in international air quality ratings but people here say the smog is a problem every year in the winter. just maceo it's like this when you leave the

city the sky is clear but. i think this is because of the negligence of the government and no one is monitoring the situation and the smog as a direct consequence apparent remote the most you have to work at the moment i think it's just far it's definitely because of the winter do you really think it's pollution were the words there's a good. lies in a valley and smaug covers it like a lid kid it is authorities admit they don't know the exact source of the pollution the country's prime minister recently said this mainly coal powered heating plant could be behind up to 20 percent of the emissions he ordered the government to look into switching to gas. for now though air quality sensors in the city show the air is hazardous to people's health the concentration of cancerous particles is several times higher than the norm here in the center of bishkek you can sometimes even smell the smog it smells burnt and city authorities say that the air quality is so

bad that people should actually be wearing masks like this one. but environmental activists feel authorities are all talk and no action they're protesting against the city's latest planning document they say new buildings are blocking the wind unlocking the small inside the city. the plan is. only in the interest of the construction lobby the building companies and big all of dark. and other countries they would have declared an emergency situation by now but here they just pretend nothing's happening. but for now local environmental inspectors are stuck in forcing existing norms today they're checking the quality of the coal used to heat the boiler at this local school even many government institutions are still heated with coal. but. regular people will keep eating with coal because it's the most cost effective we can ban the use of coal in the winter people have to

live they have to cook. was everyone has access to a gas connection and to an affordable electricity supply there simply won't be small here anymore. but kyrgyzstan's gas provider raised prices this year and the corona virus has hit the country's cash strapped economy hard so for now the move away from coal and from this layer of smog feels far off. the global health emergency through many sporting events of course including the biggest of them all this year's summer olympics were moved back to 2021 organizers insist the tokyo games will go ahead next year but not everyone shares that confidence. here limp it brings up back in tokyo a sign of hope that the 2020 games will likely take place despite the ongoing

coronavirus pandemic. we want everyone to feel that the tour matured in peaks will happen next year. the excitement leading up to the games was on last when the pandemic hit breaking news the 2020 olympic games will be postponed for a year because of the coronavirus pandemic the olympics and speed of fun talk you're getting in. a decision that was long overdue with many athletes had already said they wouldn't attend but the international olympic committee and its president seemed to lack that clear response at times they came across as clueless. we don't have a blueprint we have no experts to refer to. the athletes initially. pragmatic they trained in the living rooms but he year without any competition pushed them to the limit both financially and mentally. the

organizers remained confident i.o.c. president claimed to have a set of covert 1000 countermeasures at his disposal he send a message of hope to the athletes directly from the indian picked village in tokyo . for these small words. in all. but there is a catch. then all of the you want to be considerate to the attributes you don't want the village to get crowded and the games are done you want the athletes to leave as soon as possible like this. didn't pick games will look very different from previous ones they will be hygiene measures in place and perhaps and a limited number no spectators at all on. the uncertainty is a huge blow even for the low cost nearly $13000000000.00 euros have been spent on the game so far $2000000000.00 alone on the postponement many to question if it

makes sense to hold the games at all and. i have already returned the tickets $1000.00 has brought a new level of uncertainty one that will decide if the games will come to pass. many of events have had to go virtual during the pandemic and the european timber sports championships are no exception 14 competitors lined up in disciplines based around wood cutting skill bolting axes and salsa and power solves the competitors couldn't go up against each other directly for social distancing reasons rival lumberjacks went through their paces in their home been years and no one knew the outcome until all the elements were streamed together in and as broadcast on the day explained to bits from poland emerged victorious. the hollywood action film wonder woman 19047 record for 2020 with his debut over

the holiday weekend the warner brothers production pulled in nearly $20000000.00 in u.s. and canadian movie theaters the highest opening for any hollywood film since the credible era shuttered cinemas across the world box office take was higher than many expected since the feature was also launched for streaming to the chagrin of some of those. thanks for watching. sleep. carefully.