they're there waiting for a chance that will probably never. shattered dreams. on t w. this is news coming to you live from berlin the european union rolls out its covert 19 mess vaccination program it's a shot of pose a huge force needed effort gets underway to start immunizing those most at risk also in the program for 1st hand accounts of the credible i was breaking the challenge china's official narrative of an epidemic under control now citizen

journalist is paying the price for speaking out. and for much of december this city had the world's worst air quality we'll tell you where. hello i'm terry martin good to have you with us germany has set up more than 400 centers for its nationwide vaccination drive against coded 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 the virus under control our reporters went to the biggest facility in berlin for the start of the rollout. normally a venue for concerts and exhibitions on sunday the queues outside with it covered 19 vaccines it's the 1st to. 6 vaccination centers in the german capital to open

its doors. the former head of germany's civil relief agency was called out of retirement to lead the project has been ordered i'm satisfied today i'm happy to vaccinations are getting underway 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. 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 as. 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 one second 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 get out just a few kilometers away the 1st of berlin seniors were getting their shots as well i

think the front of the queue was 101 year old get through. with. no seeing home residents are among the most vulnerable to coronavirus now doctors hope they can finally be protected. moment extra deal in the eye at the moment infections are exploding in care homes. and 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 could tell us what you

make of germany's covered $1000.00 a nation play or 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 the issue is that we don't have enough vaccines available in the 1st weeks or months so the massive vaccination will likely starts 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 spec scene is actually working not only in protecting those vaccinated but also stopping the spread of the fire. so we will see hopefully soon in the nursing homes on the facility rate of infections will go down on the population level we also expect to see that we do not have these waifs and say we don't see this bikes of 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 of out of this and will slow it a process as we need about 70 percent 60 to 70 percent of the population being vaccinated 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 vaccination 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 people understand the importance of the next nation down to stand next nation is safe and very effective and eventually get vaccinated 1st thank you very much for talking with us today professor tobias' conti an epidemiologist and director of the institute of public health at shutting the hospital in berlin thank you for having me. say look at some other stories making headlines today u.s. president donald trump has signed into law a $2.00 trillion dollars worth of pandemic relief and other public spending after nearly a week long delay the move restores unemployment benefits to millions and averts a chaotic government shutdown that earlier threatened to block the bill. 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 of the west of the country. counting is underway in elections in the central african republic long lines for the polling stations in the capital we are in other parts of the country fewer people went to polling stations because of fears of bile and spite by boycotts by the coalition 1st results are expected early next month. chinese citizen journalist john john has been sentenced to 4 years in prison for reporting on wu han's cobe in 1000 outbreak during the early months of the pandemic security was tight at the shanghai court where her lawyers arrived for the sentencing jiang was detained in may after posting videos criticizing the government's response to the outbreak lawyers for the 37 year old say she has been on

a hunger strike and is in poor health. well for more we're joined now by d.w. is clifford coonan who has reported from china for many years good to see you clifford what exactly did junction do that got her into trouble well what she did was she challenge the narrative that this is all about controlling and hours of controlling the story about the outbreak of the pandemic which has been so damaging to the global economy but also to china's reputation and she challenge the government's position which was that they handled it well that they reported things early and that everything was done in a transparent manner she came from shanghai too and she posted these reports saying that actually things are otherwise that people were worried that it wasn't as transparent as had been protests so basically she challenged this big position that she that's caused all this trouble. case is getting

a lot of attention but she's not the only citizen journalist who's on trial issue that's right i mean this at chen to show a funk been and lead so are 3 other citizen journalists who are in trouble over this and it's kind of a new thing in china as well the idea of citizen journalism is obviously very difficult because the government keeps a very very tight grip on the media so there are a number of there it's a very very harsh sentence for years a long time for basically just reporting. various rights organizations have said and we also have the case of has found a bloomberg journalist who was recently arrested about 2 weeks ago as well also charged with endangering charge and dangerous state security so these are difficult times for journalism and journalists in china the virus the code in 1000 viruses is largely under control now in china why do chinese authorities find it necessary to

go after these citizens well this is it i mean in some ways it's slightly puzzling because china's response to the to the pandemic. for the initial missteps has been widely praised and they it's almost no problem now in china but it is all about showing a message and about showing that they they are in control of the narrative and who is who's boss basically and i think that it's just ties in with the broader area by keeping control of the media and making sure that whoever the story is going to come from the commies party not from citizen journalists on the street or thank you so much as clifford couldn't. well in the air quality index of the world's post polluted cities bishkek tops the list the capital of kyrgyzstan only has around a 1000000 and since but for several years now it's been choked in small over the winter months when many heat their homes with coal fires then to see them use emily

sherman found out moving away from cheap coal won't be easy especially now that the coronavirus pandemic is battering the country's economy. coal is selling like hotcakes in the freezing cold winter temperatures in the city of bishkek average at minus 6 degrees celsius 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. you know it's just. 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 no one is monitoring the situation and the smog as a direct consequence of that. do it at the moment i think it's just fog it's definitely because of the winter do you really think it's pollution or the words that is agrees the in your. eyes in a valley and smog covers it like a lead 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 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 and locking the smog inside the city. the plan is only in the interest of the construction lobby the building companies and big all the guards. 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. 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. once everyone has

access to a gas connection and to an affordable electricity supply there simply won't be small here anymore. so when you. but kyrgyzstan's gas provider raised prices this year and the coronavirus has hit the country's cash strapped economy hard so for now the move away from coal and from this layer of smaug fields far off . so many 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 what cutting skills involving axes and soles and power soles the competitors couldn't go up against each other directly for social distancing reasons the rival lumberjacks went through their paces in their home venue years and no one knew the outcome until all the elements

were streamed together in an has live broadcast on the day x.-men 2 bits from poland emerged victorious. this is the news coming up next we got a documentary for you on the secrets of noise castle in the very i'll be back with more news headlines at the top of the next hour until then you can always find all the latest news and information on our website that's w dot com i'm terry martians thanks we'll. go beyond. the stories that you. will do whatever it takes. you are running.

you. know the help you made for mines.