in brussels why has it taken the e.u. so long to approve this vaccine michael i would say overall the e.u. is taking a better safe than sorry approach a mobile more cautious approach if you want to compare it to countries like the u.k. when it comes to vaccine approval so what the e.u. did not want to do including all the 27 member states is emergency approval because that does not hold companies like astra zeneca liable for potential side effects and that is something that has slowed down this process other aspect and maybe an aspect of cusco related to this is that astra zeneca only formally handed in authorization on generally 12 for its vaccine so that is a much later than in the u.k. where it's been received emergency approval already in december so these may be correlated but these are 2 aspects of why the approval has taken so long yesterday german health officials recommended that the astra zeneca vaccine not be given to

people over the age of 65 has he e.-m. a said anything about this issue. other regulator today made clear that it's been a so-called rolling refuel and that data is still coming in and that more data will be coming in on that particular age group but so far they said they were happy with the results they have seen they have some good data on the immunization numbers that the vaccine apparently creates in people yes in the face 3 trials they they don't have the the numbers required to make a specific recommendation for that age group but from the numbers they have they see this as a vaccine fit for all adults over 18. this comes as you well know georg as the e.u. will leases a highly redacted version of its contract with astra zeneca placing the blame for delivery delays clearly on the vaccine producer tell us more about that now

that's really interesting and that is why the e.u. pressed hard for this contract to be released so that there is more transparency unfortunately big parts of the contract are blacked out but i think we can focus on some aspects that are not in the contract and that is for instance mentioning that other contracts out there for instance one with the u.k. where other countries are privileged and that is something the u. says that should have been in the contract if it were to be the case that other other countries receive vaccines of 1st another thing that is in the contract is a specific mentioning of u.k. sites for production and that is why the use says so the u.k. factories are not just turn it to places to turn to and that means from their perspective a supply problem in the supply chain in europe should affect all customers around the world including the u.k. . in brussels much thanks as always. the

astra zeneca vaccine is one of 3 being used as part of britain's vaccination drive the u.k. has one of the highest death tolls in the world but britain is also making more progress than many other nations in inoculating its citizens. this is the most advanced spent seen program in europe just like that this lady joins at the 7000000 people in the u.k. you've received the 1st dose of the vaccine the u.k. is on track to vaccinate some 15000000 people by the middle of february that's every one of the 70 care home residents in the clinically vulnerable as well as health and social cast off than. it was quite happy to get it actually it was very nice the people were so friendly so polite. when i was happy it was dead easy to book on line lots of appointments very efficient it's

a great program the government has undertaken and it's extremely rarely organized the u.k. started it functioning rollout in early december it was the 1st who approved both pfizer biotech and offered astra zeneca vaccines it since set up over 1400 sites with everything from cathedrals mosques and cinemas converted to rollout the scheme is no doubt that the u.k.'s vaccination program is impressive just tickled but this is just one side of the u.k.'s 900 story well it might be leading the rest of europe in terms of the number of people being vaccinated it also has one of the highest death tolls in the world and that's a fact not lost on anybody here. over $100000.00 people have died in the u.k. within $28.00 days of a positive test that's more than the entire capacity of london's wembley football stadium. the emergence of

a new more transmissible variant of the virus has further deepen the crisis it spread like wildfire across the country and left hospital struggling to cope numbers now harder than any other time we've got a journalist i'm demick so the system is under massive stress we have can stop rationing is cancer treatment we're running she crosses might look after it was proud of our mission is associated with such is this desperate race between new variant and the vaccine shaping the u.k.'s rollout strategy it's opting to leave up to 12 weeks between doses deviating from this 3 week camp trial by pfizer by giving some immunity to the maximum number of people authorities hope to cut fatalities and reduce pressure on the health service. phone. professor rob it reads a member of the independent committee which approved the strategy under normal circumstances you must adhere to the regulates it's because all of our of these are

not normal circumstances we have 2 birds in it as many people as we can as quickly as we can and it's our job. that by doing this my home. the career of that is that if we don't use this there will be considerable home through lost opportunity. but this strategy has its critics with some warning there isn't enough child data to support it all the u.k. rollouts off to a strong start this is a marathon not a sprint and potential hurdles still lay ahead but in a world where vaccine supply is becoming increasingly challenging those driving away today know that the lucky ones. now some more promising news on the vaccine front u.s. drug maker novak says its vaccine in development provides robust protection against covert 19 a british trial of some 15000 patients found the drug to be almost 90 percent

effective the shot proved nearly as successful in preventing the u.k. variant of the virus but the jab was only 50 percent effective against the new mutations spreading in south africa. let's have a look now at some of the other stories making headlines around the world a bomb has exploded outside the israeli embassy in delhi as it marked the anniversary of setting up diplomatic ties with india no injuries were reported but an israeli official says the incident is being viewed as terrorism. china will no longer recognize the british national overseas passport many hong kong residents told the u.k. government announced it would open its doors to hong kong citizens after beijing imposed a controversial security law. u.s. president joe biden has reversed a ban on u.s. foreign aid to organizations that perform or promote abortions the policies slashed

funding to health services across africa studies say it restricted women's access to contraceptives leading to more unwanted pregnancies. a court in the netherlands has ordered the energy multinational shell to pay compensation for oil spills in the niger delta after a 13 year legal battle the case was brought by 4 nigerian farmers who claim their land was polluted. it looks like justice has finally been done. after 13 years of legal wrangling the dutch appeals court is holding the oil multinational shell responsible for spills from its pipelines in nigeria. in old age can the board of the 12 the court finds that shell nigeria is responsible for damages caused by the leaks sell nigeria's here by order to pay compensation to the

farmers who are wonderful still. now these farmers could finally see summer dress for the land and ponds that they lost. with. that we had one of the i like what i would do it with these fields were so tainted by oil that nothing much has grown here since. what made me angry was that. there was is that just right that fish pond. the verdict is good news for the farmers who took the oil giant to court but it could also help other nigerians who have suffered the un discovered chemicals that can cause cancer in some drinking water in the region and babies born within a temple ometer radius are most twice as likely to die before they are month old many more victims could now claim compensation from the world's 2nd largest oil

company. up until an hour ago people in developing countries were without any rights when confronted by multinationals such as so and from today on they know they can get their rights but the amount of compensation for the farmers has yet to be determined i do hope that they will actually get some compensation soon because it was a steak and. for some it will be too late in any case. 2 of the claimants have already died. but the verdict helps to empower poor farmers who take on powerful global corporations. when it's like a football now where vosburgh are the surprise team this season one of the key players is german international riddler barco he told the w. they're dealing with a lifetime of prejudice has made him

a better player. vosburgh sweetlips back who is in the form of his life he scored the winner in last weekend's one nil with it by 11 it sent the wolves to fall from the bonders league. i was the right wing back also made his 1st germany appearance in november the 22 year old is of congolese descent and says proving racist wrong helped drive him as a young player. my father told me all the time you have to do more than the white players you have to work more you have to perform better than the other players this is always some hats since i'm young kid being black make it tough on a percent. who was nicknamed liver and young a misspelling of the surname of former germany and bruce you don't win star hines leader in 2018 he made it official. my father was a big fan. from collins who played also for the national team is german

and my friends call me the atlas since i'm a young kid and so i said to myself meatless my name and i put it also in my past so it's not 100 percent clear that i'm german and. he's certainly made a name for himself in german football another strong showing against freiburg this weekend could see both back you and his voice backside reaching new heights. straight to no covert $900.00 special is next more news at the top of the allen. the fight against the coronavirus pandemic. has the rate of infection in developing . the latest research. information and contacts. around a virus. w. .

new training. innovation in that occasion. but this is one game we can't afford to lose the world food program at 5 and a worldwide helping people help themselves my goal is. it's a race against the clock is new mutations continue to evolve. health officials blame high infection rates for the new strains. each new infection opens the door to unknown variants which threaten to undo the progress. there is no clear real danger of mutations making the virus mortars miscible

more lethal and more resistant to existing vaccines and we must fast. understanding what's driving the viruses mutations a crucial next step in a race against covert 19. imitations of seeing the virus spread like wildfire in parts of the world of more help is on the way the u.s. biotech firm novak says developed a vaccine demonstrating it was 90 percent efficacy in a phase 3 trial and proving successful against variance it's the need that scientists say we need to keep an eye on. last week if you work for a tease that's member states to do more on sequencing the genome of the novel coronavirus the hope is that scientists can detect mutations earlier and keep track on how they spread. so far major new variants have been identified in south

africa. and in brazil all of them a cause for concern as they spread much faster the reason is a mutation in the so-called spike protein that helps them attach more easily to human cells. the changes are not believed to cause a greater severity of illness the higher rate of transmission means more cases putting even more pressure on healthcare systems. in many countries there are already shortages of ventilators intensive care units and stuff. plus slowing down the spread of those new strains would require even more stringent lockdown measures. initial studies have shown that biotech pfizer's covered 19 vaccine is likely to be effective against the variant found in

the u.k. . but scientists warn that may not be true for the strain found in brazil this subtype even seems to be spreading and monaulos where 75 percent of the population at previous exposure to sas kovi to. what it could mean 2 things scientists say either that people remain vulnerable because their 1st infection was too long ago or that the virus has mutated to such an extent that it's resistant to existing antibodies. pyrolysis are still conducting research into what that would mean for the efficacy of the vaccines if it turns out that it do not provide protection against this new type of coronavirus the vixens would have to be updated. the good news is as the biotech fires a vixen and the one made by madonna you synthetic messenger r.n.a.

or m r n a they can both be quickly adapted scientists have suggested the changes could be made in as little as 6 weeks but testing the new vaccine and authorizing it might take much longer studies about here's a computational geneticist at harvard and was voted time magazine's 100 most influential people doctors are very you sequenced ebola samples from patients marking the 1st in-depth use of real time d.n.a. sequencing in a pandemic how's that changed our approach to the corona virus. i mean it is it's a fundamentally different world where we don't know 6 months after an outbreak passes we don't find out what happened we can actually. respond to it right away basically the genome of the virus is the blueprint it's how we track it how we diagnose it and how it evolves over time so we want to get real time snapshots to know what the virus is doing in every moment and to constantly develop

countermeasures that target that virus so we would see later we missed the boat i mean you sequenced ebola really on the on. did do we miss out in this case no actually we were very fast in our genome sequencing the original discovery of the virus and that was one of the really sort of sad things about this is such a missed opportunity because we actually looks like we caught the virus very soon after it entered the human populations and began transmitted from human to human the problem is that respiratory viruses move quickly and so even though we were very fast we had to be lightning fast and while the sequencing in the original instantiation was actually where it needed to be our ability to then turn those into diagnostics actually did that quickly to get them to get those diagnostics everywhere in the world so we could find it when it came that was where we dropped off that's what we missed the boat so you know the united states being a famous example of that you know going backwards where we were just months into

the outbreak still didn't really have any capacity to look for it and even had some regulatory challenges and things like that that was that was what needs to change going forward but actually the original sequencing was right on we still there's a lot we can do to keep up that sequencing to figure out as this virus is really the millions of chances to move we need to keep up with it even faster oh the british brazilian and south african variants for scientists to specific virus lines but no direct ancestors were identified house that problematic. you know it's just telling us that we're not capturing enough information that we essentially we don't know where the virus went 1st and how it got there so we're still things we're doing or sequencing than we've ever done before but we're you know in millions tens of millions of cases now so it's it's a whole different world of how much you need to capture to really see what this virus is doing and just relative to the amount of cases we're still sequencing very

little you said where a race against time is the virus may stumble upon the table and that makes it more dangerous how much time do we have it's hard to know that's the thing and basically you know time we should move immediately this is the way it works is every time a virus replicates in transmits to a new person there's opportunities for new mutations to occur most mutations don't have a real biological side but if you give it millions of chance it can happen even the most rare event can happen and so every in every new case is a new opportunity to the virus to stumble upon something you know and where we're worried now because the viruses you know looks like it's more infectious it looks like it can escape immune system it could also change and somehow begin to affect our children we don't know where it's going to go so we don't really want to waste a moment to find out a guest on this show told me taishan is what like clockwork why then can't we predict them better. well we can predict how often will likely occur and what we

can predict. you know we can we can predict essentially like they do it works like clockwork or certain every kind of every cycle there's a certain opportunity for infections to happen and so we have a sense of how many mutations will come and we just don't know the by a lot that we don't know we know some of it we're learning we know we pay attention to the ones that are in the sky protein because we know that's going to affect the it's how it's going to that cells and there's different things we're we're we're paying attention to what we don't know the full biological logic of the genome and how it works and which exactly it had which biological that that's part of what some of these studies are doing when they do gain a function to try to see what happens but those are those are challenging for various reasons so we're still not there yet but the more we study the more we know when the more we can predict and when vaccinating how much higher is the risk of me taishan if someone's got the 1st dose but the seconds being delayed when when it comes to a 2 shot vaccine you know we don't we don't really know i mean i think that the

more i mean system that's it down early the less chance it has to change and so so you know the best thing we can do is to prevent the best thing we can do to prevent infections and and to sort of shore up so that our infection doesn't go to anybody else so the those are kind of the things where it's like for me insisting that's a down or we quarantine well and that new variant doesn't go won't go anywhere and that's the best and we can do participate he from harvard thank you very much for being on the show today thank you. let me hand you over now to our science correspondent eric williams he's got answers to your questions on the corona virus. if i get vaccinated it's it's that chance i could still get infected and fact as. guests to the 1st and we don't know yet to the 2nd we'll have

a much better idea about the dangers of both issues in a few months when when vaccination numbers really climb in a serious way worldwide i think the confusion about this topic is closely tied to how we use the words infected and infectious let's look at the word infected 1st it's used in 2 different ways and it's strict sense it just means carrying a pathogen that causes a disease but it's often also used to describe symptomatically having the disease and after exposure to this pathogen you can theoretically be both or just one you can carry source code to and have symptoms but you can also carry it and not have symptoms maybe even after you've been vaccinated get back to that in

a minute. but 1st let's look at the word infectious it means the virus is reproducing in your body whether you notice it or not and that you're shedding enough of it to pass it on to others we don't yet know if this is possible even after you've received a vaccine because although trials showed vaccinated people later very rarely developed symptoms of covert 19 those trials weren't set up to show whether they also acquired what's called a sterilising immunity that's when you're a human response after vaccination wipes out any subsequent exposures so fast the pathogen never gains a foothold in your body effectively ruling you out as a link and infection chain but right now we still don't know if you could theoretically get infected after vaccination just show no symptoms yet still give

it to others we'll have a better idea of when we see whether large scale vaccine campaigns affect numbers of new infections quickly and dramatically. thanks for watching have a nice weekend i'll see you again say. proceeded drama competition drive marketing numbers at least here by intimidation love hate money. runs planet of spam and friends.

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the worst. we can make a difference by choosing reforestation overdue for a station recycling over disposable smart new solutions oberstein said in our names to her those truly unique blend and we know that their uniqueness is what allows us to live and survive a blue why do you assume the environmental suit to global 3000 on g.w. can go on. this is the deputy news africa on the program today hoping for the best but preparing for the worst south africa is battling an aggressive 2nd wave of cold at 19 that's being field by a more infectious the very end of the virus the country's top scientific advisor ses the 3rd place could spell even more trouble.