the weather isn't expected to get warmer any time soon well snow should stop falling temperatures will dip even lower made colder by a freezing wind next week should finally bring some respite from the cold you're watching news. coming up next are called $900.00 special focus seems today on south africa's fight against new virus variants. the fight against the corona virus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research say. information and context the coronavirus update 19 special. on t w. in mexico many pushed. us right now in the uk right now climate tree me for an awful story. this is life less leeway from just one week.

how much worse can really get. we still have time to where i'm going. to subscribe to like this. new more contagious variant of the corona virus could be behind a more serious 2nd wave in south africa. b 1351 could also be the 1st mutation to be to existing back seen a small study shows the astra zeneca inoculation only office limited protection against mild versions of the buriat and that's the back seen much of africa was banking on. a moment we'll talk to overall just involved in that

astra zeneca study and put this into context but 1st let's look at some of the other factors driving case numbers in south africa super spreader of a lockdown fatigue are also big but. the developed world gathers momentum and vaccinating its populations south africa is fighting a corona virus mutation that everybody has just come out of its 2nd wave of corona virus infections within the last period of 2020 and i think the research institute are very concerned that this may or may not be related to the new strain of corner virus infection this has been found in the country. very interest been associated with a higher bar load in infected people making it more transmissible and leading to sharp spikes in infections. south africa recorded over 15000 covert deaths in the last month and it's hospitals were filled to capacity. to. do we think one of them so we have had an unexpected really strong 2nd wave in south

africa it came earlier than with anticipated and it was much steeper in terms of numbers there were 2 reasons for this one was we think mass gatherings before the christmas period there were young people getting together but also that we hadn't really controlled the numbers of people for example at funerals so mass gatherings drove this partly but that coincided with the emergence of the new variant which has indeed increased transmission from one person to another so 2 things at the same time. this seems to be confirmed by researchers on the ground. we found that participants particularly in our research they have not been compliant to learn from a city going to be in chains they will be non-compliant to travelling restrictions particularly across provinces they've also been non-compliant to self isolation after testing positive as well as attending parties. at your insta

personal protection measures are also slipping like in my boning an inner city cultural hub in johannesburg. having a somewhat warts and honey changer and when i do drink it and i spoil it makes the moscowitz so that i had to move them last but i haven't been thinking the war so the singing it's on the. locals are beginning to tire of some of the world's strictest lockdown measures and skepticism is taking hold. and there's no koran that. doesn't exist. doesn't exist present in terms of our minds. while struggling entrepreneurs are taking risks in order to survive. it difficult to adhere to the rules of social distancing and knowing fully so that's a bit of

a challenge but. you know i don't want to chase the last little card that i have so i'll do all that i can just to try and keep you know keep the shop open. exactly what role did recently discovered variant is playing in local infection rates remains to be seen. we are not particularly sure about what this puts this corona virus infection strain will do in terms of the medication and the vaccine to have that's right developed we hoping to have some very exciting information in the next few weeks which will answer some of those questions and give us some more guidance around this particular issue. but until scientists can be sure. or south africa needs to remain cautious as vaccine rollout has only just begun. its talk about new variance and the efficacy of vaccines with the rajah's pain mostly joins us from the woods university at the national institute for communicable diseases she contributed to the laboratory aspects of this south african study on the astra

zeneca vaccine penny what's the main takeaway from that study the main takeaway from the astra zeneca study in south africa is that the vaccine provides little to no if it against what we define as mild to moderate disease and that is a setback and that as a result of that finding the south african government has for now suspended the rollout of the esters and exene which was imminent and it's very important to note that that study was limited by the fact that it enrol people who were generally relatively young and for that reason this trial was unable to define whether the astra zeneca vaccine was able to protect from severe disease from the let's not just point of view and from a public health point of view that is the primary aim of x. nation is to protect people from from dying from sars could be to and so that is a major annoyance a question with yesterday and it could china stage in the meantime though what does it mean for south africa. unfortunately it means that we need to we need to start

looking beyond the astra zeneca vaccine this is something that we have been doing as a country and so that it has been integral involved in testing several other vaccines and we have been trials in this country for the johnson and johnson vaccine the know that extra vaccine and so we are very well placed to understand how effective those specs scenes are and continue will continue to be against both the old variant in south africa but also importantly against the new variant that has been scrapped. but as for then it has vaccine has also been seen to not be effective among older people in other countries then we have this problem with the effects on younger people infected with milder cases what's that mean for this actual vaccine and at the end of the day so was all that seems we constantly work out the tradeoff between the efficacy measured as the single number that we hear in the

press and realistically high on how easy it is to roll that out in a country yesterday nick a vaccine is very cost effective it's very easy to transport and so that that lack of if a casy against melbourne moderate disease if offset by potential effects in severe disease is balanced by that important need to be able to achieve coverage and that coverage is very important for achieving what we call her protection so with esther's any can and with all that scene's and this constant evaluation of all of the benefits and all of the disadvantages of a vaccine in a particular situation now this is a very it is already making its way around the world how how worried should other countries be about this variant. that's important to understand too 2 things in this area that was that identified 1st inside africa is not going stance of africa viruses do not respect borders and in fact it has already been detected in several

other countries as your viewers are probably aware but i think the 2nd thing to understand is that it's not just the south african variants that is worrying us a similar variant has been detected that arose completely independently in brazil the variant detected in the u.k. has now acquired one of the new tensions that we most concerned about is wait for me taishan and so it's clear that the virus is independently evolving away from the small sensed of phenotype so more resistant state so it's not simply a matter of being concerned about one variant we have to understand in general how the virus is evolving and many just explain to me why it's mutating to the same pattern it may take to the same patent because in general people have a very similar response immune response to that ours so when are you studying somebody in brazil or the u.k. or in so that africa i mean systems tend to behave in a very similar manner and we actually have i mean systems actively target what's

called receptive binding demand and that happens to be exactly where these mutations are located and the fact that everybody has a very similar response of the virus means that the virus we have you study it tends to have a very similar pattern in escaping from from antiquities and this is what viruses do best and this is the cat and mouse game that characterizes all our own infections of humans is an ongoing race between viral evolution and the immune system in this case but the immune response and therefore the viruses get parts ways are pretty similar. just anyhow thank you very much for being on the show today thanks bill. time now for your questions of the ta science correspondent there. as the sars virus inevitably continues to mutate could it also mutate to become less deadly. this is complicated but here goes the short answer is yes that could happen and we hope it

will but there's no guarantee scientists used to believe that pathogens always evolved to grow less deadly because it was thought a deadly disease isn't an effective disease the reasoning was that if a pathogen kills its host especially if it kills that host quickly then it lowers its own chances of being passed on so less deadly more transmissible variants should have an evolutionary advantage right well the problem with that logic is that the your allowance can also be viewed as an advantage because the sicker the host grows the more likely they are to give their pathogen to someone else since they're shedding more of it some so we actually think there's kind of an evolutionary tradeoff between transmissibility and virulence and there are certainly pathogens for instance the birkie loss' bacterium that have been

infecting humans for thousands of years yet still kill large numbers of people to see what the future might hold for covert 19 therefore scientists have been looking at the other coronaviruses known to infect humans and in particular the 4 that we think have been doing it for quite a while they only cause my old cold like symptoms interestingly that might have less to do with them and more to do with us especially with our children one theory is that repeated exposure to those other. coronaviruses and early childhood might be helping to prevent more severe cases of the sicknesses they could cause later in life if source code too does become an endemic background illness in our societies then then later generations of children will be exposed to it early at an

age when it rarely makes you seriously ill and that in turn should make subsequent exposures much less dangerous or at least that's the hope. they're going to say i've been fizzling thanks for watching stay safe and i'll see you again very soon like. operation vaccine our national soul after it's been feeding the global fight against her own environment in large industrial countries have secured the vaccine for themselves while poor countries are being left empty handed out in the vaccine the feeling distributed to the whole world to take the hard road out of the pandemic comes up. next on d. w. . indiana. i am an established

resource no somewhat discredited. camp is on to new highs in the himalayas for example don't think i'm fallin the tourists are gone it's means more than for him all the things that i made. him 60 minutes on d w. why did this person lose his home. there are. there is a lot that can be done to. make

up your own body. double. operation vaccination a huge task unparalleled in history and the challenges involved a massive. many nations of elusive should be a vaccine doses to be to deal with the sheer but what about the poor countries and i think this idea that you know really it would protect ourselves 1st and then we would worry about others as

a consensus but more than that it's food is done by. these abundantly is the pandemic want to be over until it's over all around the globe i used. to control the coronavirus pandemic this year with the vaccines that are available. to. the german city of maine it's up to the close of up until a year ago a few people. outside the medical field and headed off to the start up a violent take it was known for developing innovative drugs to fight can something . in january 2021 the corona virus began spreading around the world company founded in halted ongoing research and mobilized all forces to focus on a new goal developing a vaccine for the virus last fall we were among

a few camera teams allowed to film with the company. we have must see that the right of find 3 goals firstly we needed a back scene that triggers a powerful immune response and for then we needed to conduct clinical trials that prove its effect of unsafe and thirdly we knew we'd need sufficient quantities of the vaccines of the for food. with many countries now proving the vaccine production is being ramped up the demand is huge it's a new type of vaccine known as messenger are inane it contains the blueprint for a virus tracy mccool says the body cells to develop a small amount of the virus so that it and then produces antibodies to fight it to develop the vaccine quickly by on tank introduced a 7 day work week and supplied regulatory authorities with doctors clinical trials progressed to speed up the approval process. or they called it our lightspeed

project like we knew we had no time to lose it this year but we were also very clear that we didn't want any short cuts that we wanted to work best not overlook anything i think on the show at the break even while the vaccine was still main developed by ontic was preparing for mass scale production joining forces with american pharmaceutical giant pfizer and chinese to dominate phone. no model rise a good amount normally you wouldn't focus on production until later in the 1st test whether you have a viable back same on it but we moved forward with the. both things have once we built the partnerships with other companies that would allow us to manufacture the back same and make it a bailable anywhere on the planet warthen planet. some 200 other research groups have also been working since january 2020 to develop a vaccine scientists in the u.s. and europe as well as china russia and australia locked in the race to fight the

pandemic. nominate take scenes to develop a new vaccine but this time she managed she couldn't quite that long wealthy governments around the world billions into research. will become. drug store. and so it's our responsibility to work together globally. national pride and propaganda played an increasing role as the international race for a vaccine gathered speed we're almost there going to be announced very soon will be ready before the end of the year. medical research became the focus of the international community as never before and the pressure on scientists grew as the political rhetoric increased there was growing concern that the rush to have

a vaccine might lead to compromises on safety and adequate trials rushing at preliminary approval to its vaccine before it had gone through the only important phase 3 clinical trial with the vaccine is tested and found people that contravened international procedures. china also began to ministering to vets seems to members of the military and medical personnel long before getting to trials with complaints. in the us the. trumpet ministration pumped billions into its warp speed program to produce vaccines and secure us manufactures the pole position unlike anything our country has seen since the manhattan bridge. in the end it was biotech and filed with the 1st to have a vaccine approved at least in the western world.

in early december after britain issued an agency approval for the vaccine 90 year old margaret jean and became the 1st received the bio on tech chap. up there. than it. took place to help the people who. can ensure in the united states also proved to biotech pfizer vaccine. the companies who pledged to deliver 200 meakin doses to the u.s. by maine.

just before christmas the 2nd vaccine came to imagine c. approval in the u.s. made by american company montana like the one from buy on take 2 is an m r n a that same. the bio taken origin of vaccines was shown to be $95.00 a 94 percent effective in can equal shots. and a fair vaccine has now been approved to a so-called desired effect of produced by up speaking of a city and the british swedish company astra zeneca it's thought to be up to 70 percent effective against the virus that to a high. right to require to be approved for usage. bought despite this encouraging development it's been clear all along that to begin with there wouldn't be enough vaccine for everyone so we should get it 1st like many countries germany is prioritizing the elderly and seek. a

new books who heads up the german ethics council help to draw up the guidelines for distribution effect saying. they haven't thus i don't you didn't select the elderly for preferential treatment as if to play the different generations off against each other that's your gain and ours. is todd said it's just the case that the data show very clearly that old age is the greatest risk factor. on disk and there are some groups especially very elderly people in nursing homes for many 100 times more at risk than say someone like myself. but is everyone in germany willing to be inoculated. critical opponents of the vaccine have been protesting for months fearful that they could be coerced into getting inoculated it gets they will. represent considered faceless cheney should the number of people in germany willing to have a kind of

a 19 vaccine trump is the most cost while in april 70 percent said yes they would get inoculation by the end of november that number had dropped to just 57 percent. and experts say between 60 and 70 percent of the population needs to be inoculated to achieve herd immunity. and a willingness to be vaccinated dropped in many industrialized nations last year including the us. on the safety of the vaccine i am not sure i wouldn't want to be one of the volunteers to try it out. and be to care about take care but that's something i have to do it's something i have to do. surveys new u.s. show and 66 percent of us asked in july were willing to get vaccinated that dropped to 50 percent in september and didn't rose back to 63 percent.

how is it possible to protect a global population of nearly 8000000000 people. on the curve the pandemic that seems need to be accessible and affordable for every country yet still is this fish to it's important that we consider a vaccine as a global public good bit tough that they're. bound to expect seen alone won't be enough to independent make the funding mean and the kind of work of endemic doesn't care which countries have rolled out a bax a nation program for what's important is that we achieve a blanket immunization all over the world in our own name nunchuck. no one company can cover that kind of demand is that i need to work together and we need to help each other so that we're all a position to make a vaccine available as soon as possible i watched and so. one solution could lie

nearly 7000 clung to his wife from biotech's german headquarters. tuna in india. the city is 3000000 miles southeast of known by any indian state of maharashtra. tuna sandwich the world's largest vaccine manufacturing serum institute of india. the pharmaceutical company says it produces over one and a half 1000000000 doses of various vaccines every year. in specialized in supply in the developing world and emerging economies who can't afford the vaccines produced in the west. discernments to choose since it's vaccines are used in $170.00 countries worldwide . after months of seeking to contact the institute out

team was finally granted permission to film pm last fall and speak to the head of research and development. towards your mentor for india we are putting a lot of your 1st story. help the entire globe to supply a large volume of vaccine serum is normal to really take care of for this is where the election in a low income countries poor countries and making it quit able access to all the people. normally be used by reactors they used to produce vaccines to guard against to bet you now says only recently and other diseases now the company has reserved a large part of its capacity to cope with 19 vaccines. so the major challenge is when such a pandemic comes up everybody wants large while you a police 5 to 7000000000 roses are needed to be manufactured in short time.

to meet the expected to match the same institutions currently convention one of its new factories it was built to manufacture other drugs but now produce coronavirus vaccines. generally a lot of people when there is a pandemic they start from the scratch so by the time they have the which can be were billions of bosis pandemic probably says don't so nobody is interested in the product and it is a big plus of zeros to india we always expanded and created large facility. in anticipation of global news several of our sins as a lead pandemic we can really handle such kind of practice. 5 covered 19 facts aims of can even produce to rim to know. if. one of them is the vector vaccine developed 5 of us with university and astra

zeneca in india it goes under the name of kofi shield. the same institute has signed a contract with astra zeneca to manufacture 1000000000 ptosis of kovi shield the doses of destiny expressly for developing countries and india. right now we. are awfully about going to 5 to 30000000 doses of what sort of thing is already manufactured by us at risk and we are continuing doing that. is the 60000000 doses someone. vaccine has now also been given emergency approval in india. but only on condition that in the initial months at least this soon is to change only sells the vaccine to the indian government. tends to assume to streatch india has been able to start large scale

vaccination drive but what about other emerging economies in the developing world. the manufacturers of astra zeneca by on take 5 2nd more donors say together they will produce 5300000000 doses of vaccine in 2021. in theory that's enough for 3000000000 people so over a 3rd of the global population. but the majority of those doses have already been reserved to 27 member states the european union and for other industry. countries have already precluded harsh those doses. the supply and their populations will be generous canada for example has secured nearly 9 doses for every single one of its residents followed by the us with just over 7 pad of population you with nearly 5 and india with just under 2.

the problem is these countries who have secured harmful vaccines to be produced in 2021 only account for 13 percent of the population. for poor countries that means there won't be much left over at least not for the forseeable future research is a g. confessed city in the us a calculated that most people in these countries will have to wait until 2023 or even 24 more to get the vaccine. german business journalist reka hammond is skeptical about the behavior of wealthy nations in the current crisis. center so initially of course that the pharmaceutical companies needed money risk capital to push ahead with the whole production's of understood and so it's logical that governments want vaccines in return but let's be clear there's a certain amount of nationalism at play here and this will get into an economist

jayati ghosh wants of the dangerous consequences of vaccine nationalism well this is exactly why i called it a vaccine about it because it means that the countries with that are really sure that their populations have the best access they will be the 1st story governed not just from the pandemic but also economically and the countries that are already poor already devastated by the health conditions they will wait so they will go through another year of economic devastation and illness. but the impending. lack of vaccines for the global south is not shiny and if you do machine. gun vitus is not respected in borders so the idea that you can protect your own population and not worthy of all of the best and that you were there for the safe is very foolish if some consensus but more than that it's food is it doesn't. that seem

nationalism decent to increase the inequality of our world. but it's not even in the interest of the industrialized nations to paint this way according to german economist and try not. as this is guns it's very important to understand that in addition to the medical and moral arguments there are also strong economic arguments for not just focusing on our own market. i'm just saying that's globalized capitalism really doesn't need a virus like 19 or not it will help because there are global supply chains and our entire economies are based on people being able to travel then on the hundreds or trade partners are economically on their knees because of the pandemic countries that supply wrong materials as well as the countries that import our manufactured goods that cannot be in our interest. to kill try to risk of poor countries not having enough vaccine the world health organization created an instrument back in

april 2020 cooled kovacs it aims to ensure equal and fair access to coverage 1000 taxing the amount participating countries spain to a joint fund which the w.h.o. uses to purchase new cars fax scenes sent the wealthiest states financed the poorer ones. we now have the largest most die there of course back. anywhere in the world we expect we have countries that cover 90 percent of the world's population that are agreeing to work together to get the best possible prices the best possible dog used and. best possible timing for the rollout of these actions around the world. to tell you a chose distribution plant can process 2 phases in the 1st phase when participating countries receive vaccines to inoculate them medical personnel and fun open groups . then in the 2nd phase vaccines are supposed to go especially to countries with

the situation is most urgent it sounds cool but there are problems with 1st just quite simply money we need a substantial amount of money it'll be another $5000000000.00 to be able to buy the vaccines that are going to be needed especially for low income countries. the 2nd challenge that we have of course is we're seeing a big 2nd waves of disease especially in the northern hemisphere it will be a huge political pressure use the vaccines there 1st and to move back from the commitments to equitable rode out the world. politicians could face a difficult balancing act. because we're off to do has so often in the world of politics there are different rationales at play here firstly politicians ask how do we fight this pandemic worldwide but then there's the more in the biju a one off what do voters want from me or from the. fundamental problem with the

kind of facts initiative is becoming increasingly obvious it depends on timidity on the goodwill of the tony nations if domestic politics dictates they can just move the truth their pledges and that's not only. when i think they would do fatal flaws with kovacs one is that you know some important countries didn't join then the other concern with kovacs is that it didn't prohibit the country select joined from doing the side deal that should not be allowed because that goes against the whole spirit of good acts. but there are alternatives to the model of free will to nations. on october 15th the w. discuss the proposal put forward by india and south africa. then was to achieve a temporary way thought of the so-called trips agreement which also protects the patents of pharmaceutical firms the agreement contains clauses that can be invoked in a medical emergency the way it was to ply only to convert 19 health products

a similar move in 2001 relating to hiv treatment for example billions access to cheap lifesaving drugs. we learned from the hiv aids pandemic that where there are patents protecting drugs there is always the danger that hundreds of thousands will die. simply because they just can't afford the necessary drugs and need a comment so south africa and india wanted to have covert 19 paid suspended for the generation of the pandemic so the cheap generic vaccines could be produced for poor countries but the motion was overruled by wealthy nations unfortunately what we find is that multinational drug companies are able to lobby their governments very effectively it's very strong in the united states government their religious phone to the drug lobby but it's also unfortunately strong in europe. peyton's huge huge profits for the pharmaceutical companies in london to control prices but the

vaccine companies have received billions in public subsidies. just pretend a few had to protect companies to protect innovations and so forth. but the fact is that a large percentage of the funds that went into developing these vaccines came from public coffers by us efficacious. there are legal alternatives such as compulsory licensing commission is given for patients to be used without the consent of the patient hold up a paper and pulled it could be set up to coronaviruses back scenes and drugs to be shared. but this isn't support for my throat she right now. by a long take on founder isn't keen on additional state intervention i think. this is a saw this as a pharmaceutical company is simply an organization that is involved professionally

and making safe drug shots not offensive and that can only works when you have the companies get to the point where they're able to make a profit that they can reinvest in new research projects and developing new drugs when they are found that surrounded. by on tech specs seen is in any case not suitable for use in poor countries of the global south. their bio and take the beyond tech approach is extremely intelligent but it's also extremely complicated i'm a lender or countries don't have the infrastructure to be able to store and transport a complex drug so you need a very robust vaccine that will also work in the heat hits it often affords in the . regions could come from the very country with the pandemic 1st started china. questions remain over the efficacy of china soon a vaccine what's clear is the chinese companies have developed a number of vaccines that are easy to store. if you mean for the chinese

are developing vaccines that are suitable for the global south because they're not dependent on a cold chain i mean they're also building up a kind of silk road for health products right off the ball on among us now chinese companies and politicians who've been active in africa latin america and the middle east. it does is that is another prospect that's a little uncomfortable for the west that in the not too distant future we're going to start seeing international vaccine diplomacy. and china's effect scenes and. being welcomed with open arms at the end of december the 1st reset effect since you know from iraq to morocco and egypt a gift from the united arab emirates the vaccine has since been approved for use in china itself. the distribution of vaccines is a face value a medical issue but it's also an ethical one.

long dusty the prospect of some wealthy countries inoculating their populations a whole year earlier than poor ones violates principles of global solidarity and justice so i think it's only right that germany and europe are supporting and they should haves that aim to ensure that scenes are distributed worldwide as fast as possible. soonest as is may sound cynical but because the virus is a threat to us poor countries do indeed have some leverage in persuading the north to show solidarity. with the data shows. by the end of 2021 it's highly likely that a whole range of other vaccines will also be available. will they help us get the pandemic come to control. or will it continue to control us. with us i hope the vaccine will mean we can get back to normal cancun.

the back scenes will definitely help us they will help us to produce antibodies good job and the level of fear will go down we'll. obviously i think this this pandemic will probably around never in one year the pender will look very different and still be a new normal because covert will still exist but we should be able to resume much more silent even much more in economic activity here that law and order requires everybody doing their personal. single biggest bear is about today a little more choice about whether a dog is worth which we are gods in their. message and that without global cooperation you're never going to get rid of this problem and ok today to my brightest. we will be some other thing maybe

a find is it maybe some others or nothing disease it may be some other. hazards or they haven't even thought about yet. scientists have managed to produce vaccines in record time and now it's up to the politicians and to a certain extent all of this to me finds on how we. keeping in mind the bigger picture.

india is. an established resource oh it's been somewhat discredited. today kemp is on to new highs in the himalayas for example in the earth i'm fallin the tourists are gone it's means moon for hemp all the things that are made from. 30 soggy w. . some of the weapons left from the 1st world war are being cleared here. this is why we are in germany most more toxins lie dormant in the soil contaminating the ground. politicians are letting the grass grow over the problem. but that isn't enough. chemical weapons in germany. in 75 minutes on t.w.

. we've got some hot tips for your bucket list. magic corner. spot for food. and some great cultural memorials to. w. trouble. this is g w news and these are top stories i mean mars army chief has said that a military coup to oust the country civilian leaders was justified by voter fraud in november election gentlemen on huddling has made statements as tens of thousands of people joined a 3rd day of protest against last week's to. germany poland and sweden have expelled russian diplomats in answer to the it's ocean of their diplomats from moscow last week.