captioning sponsored by wnet >> hill: on this edition for saturday, november 27: new restrictions as scientists race to learn more about the new coronavirus variant. what to know about children and covid vaccinations. and finding family half-a-world away. next on “pbs newshour weekend.” >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. bernard and denise schwartz. the cheryl and philip milstein family. the anderson family fund. the estate of worthington mayo-smith. leonard and norma klorfine. the rosalind p. walter

foundation. koo and patricia yuen, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. barbara hope zuckerberg. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. >> for 25 years, consumer cellular's goal has been to providwireless service that helps people communicate and connect. we offer a variety of no-contract plans, and our u.s.-based customer service team can help find one that fits you. to learn more, visit www.consumercellular.tv. additional support has been provided by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people. and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you.

>> hill: good evening and thank you for joining us. i'm michael hill, in for hari sreenivasan. a new so-called variant of concern has the world bracing for another wave of covid-19. the world health organization has named the variant omicron-- a letter in the greek alphabet-- and it is suspected of being potentially more contagious than delta. the variant was first identified in south africa earlier this week after a huge spike in cases there. that outbreak prompted a swift reaction around the world,ith dozens of countries, including the nations of the european union, the united kingdom, and the u.s. all imposing travel restrictions to and from countries in southern africa. in johannesburg, passengers raced to leave the country before restrictions kicked in. >> my main concern is i'm not going to get back to england before 4:00 a. tomorrow morning, which is looking more and more likely, so, yeah. and i feel very sad for the

people here as well going back on the red list again and who knows for how long, not being able to see family. >> hill: officials at the world health organization said researchers are working to better understand this new variant, but there are still a lot of unknowns. >> there's a lot of work that is ongoing in south africa and in other countries to better characterize the variant itself in terms of transmissibility, in terms of severity and any impact on our countermeasures, like the use of diagnostics, therapeutics or vaccines. so far, there's little information, but those studies are underway, so we need researchers to have the time to carry those out. >> hill: here in the u.s., travel to and from eight countries in southern africa will be restricted-- allowing only u.s. citizens or legal residents into the country starting monday. while no cases of the variant have been identified in the u.s., health officials warned it is a matter of when, not if, omicron will be found here. in a statement, the centers for disease control and prevention said, “c.d.c. is continuously

monitoring variants and we expect omicron to be identified quickly, if it emerges in the u.s.” despite travel restrictions, there are signs that the new variant has already started to spread globally. officials in the netherlands are investigating 61 passengers who tested positive for covid-19 after arriving on flights from south africa yesterday. this afternoon, health officials in germany confirmed two cases of the new variant there, and the czech republic was also investigating possible travel- related omicron cases. and in belgium, israel, ho kong, and the unitedingdom there are now confirmed omicron infections. prime minister boris johnson today announced new measures for those entering the u.k. from anywhere after two people who had traveled from southern africa in recent days tested positive with the new variant. >> we're not going to stop people from traveling. i want to stress that. we're not going to stop people from traveling, but we will require anyone who enters the u.k. to take a p.c.r. test by

the end of the their second day of arrival and to self isolate until they have a negative result. >> hill: johnson also announced a renewed push for vaccine boosters, face coverings, and mandatory isolatns for those who have had contact with people who test positive for this new variant. the united states is increasing >> fallen trees kilt two men. the first winter storm in the area this year left many without power and disrupted train service. authorities said the worst of the storm is over but warned strong winds may continue this weekend. the united states is increasing its call for an expedited end to

the united states is increasing its calls for an expedited end to hostilities in ethiopia. u.s. secretary of state antony blinkereleased a statement late yesterday, after speaking with kenya's president, expressing “grave concern about worrying signs of military escalation in ethiopia.” blinken also called for negotiations between the ethiopian government and separatists from the country's northern tigray region. earlier yesterday, ethiopian prime minister abiy ahmed released footage of his visit to the frontlines in the country's northeast. fighting has escalated in recent weeks as tigray rebels captured veral key towns. the conflict has been raging for more than a year, killing thousands and displacing millions of people in the region. in western africa, police fired tear gas during demonstrations in burkina faso today against the government and what protesters say is a failure to stop increasing violence by islamic militants. protests have grown after an

attack two weeks ago by al-qaeda linked militants that killed more than 50 police officers and several civilians. the attack was the deadliest since the insurgency began in 2015. militants linked to al qaeda, the islamic state and boko haram have strengthened in recent years with expanded campaigns in burkina faso and neighboring niger. police in the solomon islands-- northeast of australia-- discovered three bodies in a burned-out building in the country's capital late yesterday. the discovery comes after three days of violent protests in opposition to the government's growing ties with chin with authorities arresting more than 100 people. drone footage from earlier in the week showed protesters blocking roads as black smoke filled the air. many of the demonstrators are demanding the resignation of the prime minister. the unrest stems from the government's decision in 2019 to end diplomatic ties with taiwan and establish formal links with china. earlier this week, australian

authorities announced the deployment of more than 100 police and military personnel to assist the solomon islands with security and riot control. for more national and international news, visit pbs.org/newshour. >> hill: covid vaccinations are now available for children as young as five. adding children to those who can receive covid vaccines is a step forward in protecting everyone, but parents still have questions. before the thanksgiving holiday, hari sreenivasan spoke with dr. sallie permar, pediatrician in chief at new york presbyterian hospital and chair of the department of pediatrics at weill cornell medical center. >> sreenivasan: dr. permar, how many children have had vaccinations now and what have we learned about the process? >> yeah, so it's exciting that the m.r.n.a. vaccines for covid have become available down to age five, the five- to

11-year-olds, only recently. of our adolescents, there have been over 15 million in the u.s. have been vaccinated. and in that five- to 11-year-old group that have only just started becoming vaccinated in the last two weeks, we know that almost two million at least have gotten their first dose. >> sreenivasan: and i think most parents, the kind of immediate concern that a lot of them have is, "have there been any adverse reactions? i'm kind of in the wait-and-see camp. should i, you know, wait for those news stories to come out?" what-- tell us, put this vaccine in context. >> yeah, so this is one of the most scrutinized vaccine processes that we've ever seen roll out in all of history. and because of that, we actually know it's one of the safest vaccines that we've ever had available to us, and the most effective vaccine-- one of the most effective. and we know that because this has been a very public process, from the original producing of

the vaccine all the way through giving it in all of the trials. and then, since then, because we are watching literally millions of people get vaccinated, collecting the data on what is going on with individuals after they get vaccinated. and, of course, i think parents all have heard that in our young adults and adolescents, there was a very rare side effect that was picked uprom all of this scrutiny, and it was myocarditis, or inflammation around the heart. that occurred very rarely, maybe 20 to 40 in a million doses. and it did occur more often in males than females in that age group. but one thing that, as a pediatric infectious disease doctor, i think is quite notable about the vaccine-associated myocarditis is that it was extremely mild when you compare it to the virus-associated myocarditis, both from covid or from other viruses. so, with a virus-associated

myocarditis, it requires lifesaving intervention-- sometimes heart/lung bypass-- and creates a lot of heart damage that children then have to live with. but the vaccine-associated myocarditis, these were very mild, treated with just ibuprofen, and children walk out of the hospital the next day without any evidence that there's any long-term issue that's going to arise. and we have not seen myocarditis at all in the younger age group, that five-to-11 age group. and so, we have good reason to think that it won't even occur. >> sreenivasan: are children going to have to have booster shots similar to the adults in their lives that are perhaps lining up now? >> yeah, so that's a great question that we don't know the answer to yet. but being a vaccine scientist myself for children, i know that the pediatric immune system is very different than the adult immune system. and in fact, it's very good at responding to this type of vaccine, the m.r.n.a. vaccine.

and, in fact, we saw that occur when scientists doing the trials in this five-to-11 age group noted that they were able to go to a lower dose of the vacne to achieve the same level of munity as adults were seeing and we know now is protective. and so, we know that our children will respond very well to these vaccines, and it's possible that their immunity will last longer than for adults. and so, we don't yet know if children will need a booster or when they will need a booster. i do predict it will be different than what we're seeing in adults. and, in the long-term, i think this vaccine will live as a standard pediatric vaccine that we already know we get multiple boosters of most of those vaccines already. and so, i imagine it'll be a similar pattern with this vaccine. >> sreenivasan: how do school districts and parents and teachers think about this virus being part of school life? >> when we do have widespread

vaccine immunity and we don't have pockets of unvaccinated people who are all congregating together, then we can think about what, of all the interventions we had to put in place to really, you know, keep our kids in school this year-- which ones can we cut back on? and, of course, we should never give up washing our hands. that's always a good one. sneezing into our elbows and not into our hands. but, you know, the masking would be great for all of our kids to not have to wear a mask to-- you know, for them to be able to see the teachers, what they're saying and when they're smiling, et cetera. but i think we can start to talk about that once most school kids are vaccinated. and maybe even that we have some policies around requiring vaccination in order to, you know, enroll kids in schools with some ability to have exemptions when it's medically necessary. but i think that only now and

only when we get most kids vaccinated can we start to think about pulling back. >> sreenivasan: you know, here we are kind of heading into this holiday season, and it's always a tense time for family members who might not see eye to eye on lots of things. but now, there's this sort of compounded layer of what relatives of mine am i going to meet? what are their views on the vaccine? do i want to put my children around them before they have the vaccine or wait until after? it just sort of makes sometimes a complicated time of the year even more so. >> i agree. it has been a political challenge, this, you know, coming to a place where we can all feel comfortable with vaccine immunity and an understanding that the vaccine is the safer choice across the board than getting the virus itself, which has-- has been true of all the data that we've been seeing. however, not everyone is on board with that point of view. and so, that does raise some

interesting questions around the thanksgiving table. i think that it is important to still think about our children when we're bringing to this population because there's not a single five- to 11-year-old who's going to be fully vaccinated by thanksgiving day. they will at best have one dose so far, or maybe just recently gotten a second dose. so, we do have to think about, in small gatherings or family gatherings where we're going to be eating, is to think about how can we reduce the risk to avoid your child becoming infected just as they're at the precipice of gaining vaccine immunity. so, you know, thinking about if your family members want to test before getting together, that's one opportunity. and, you know, even potentially using the opportunity to talk about vaccines, to have your child talk about why they are excited to be able to access the vaccine, you know. some of the data shows that those one-on-one conversations from someone who really cares about you can make a difference

in someone's choice to get vaccinated. and so, thanksgiving might be a time to initiate some of those questions. >> sreenivasan: dr. sallie permar from weill cornell, new york presbyterian. thanks so much. >> thank you. >> hill: on this thanksgiving weekend, we have a story from minnesota's twin cities pbs station about finding family. this past summer, kaomi lee shared her personal story. like many of the more than 200,000 adopted koreans around the world, lee was adopted as a small child, brought to a new country, and raised by parents of a different race. lee still does not know her birth parents, but a decision to share her results from a d.n.a. test brought a surprising discovery. >> with most of the state in drought conditions and half the state in severe drought... >> reporter: as almanac's greater minnesota reporter, i usually report on stories from around the state.

this story is a little different. this is actually when i became a citizen. 50 years ago, i was adopted as an infant from south korea and sent to a lutheran pastor and his wife in rural minnesota. i thought i left korea with just a name, a presumed birth date and the clothes on my back, with no hope of finding family. little did i know i also had something very powerful: my d.n.a. and i'm not alone. >> well, ben has spoken to his half brother, jeff, but they've never met face to face until now. ben, are you ready? >> i'm ready. >> jeff, come on out. ( applause ) >> reporter: commercial d.n.a. tests have been connecting relatives to each other for the past 15 years. for korean adoptees who often can't access records or birth identities, the tests have been a game changer. >> right now, we have over 12

million customers, and about 80% of those customers have found a third cousin or closer. i think a lot of this information is really invaluable for everyone, but specifically for adoptees, you know-- especially because typically adoptees don't have family history, whether it's their ancestry or health. and actually certain ancestries can put you at a higher risk of developing certain diseases, and so we've heard from so many customers it's impacted their lives tremendously. >> reporter: i took 23andme's d.n.a. test five years ago. i shared the results on some other databases, and then this spring i got a message. someone in denmark thought they were my half sister or niece, and like me she was also a korean adoptee. >> you know, i think, oh, you just take it a day at a time. >> reporter: we did more tests. all signs pointed to half sisters. but after denmark opened to visitors, i decided to fly and

meet lisa beck. but i was still nervous. how would it feel to meet a previously unknown biological sibling for the first time? would we get along? would we have anything to talk about? would meeting her help me better understand myself? then, the moment happened. >> i'm tearing up, oh! ( unintelligible ) >> did you wait a long time? >> yes, and i was getting nervous! >> yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. >> oh, how nice to see you! >> so nice to see you! >> reporter: we got a chance to sit down together, face to face. i learned that lisa decided to do a d.n.a. test on a whim. >> early morning, i lay in my bed, and i was very tired. and i just took my phone out and then, "oh, what? i have a sister!" i was so confused and excited at

the same time, yeah. >> reporter: what was going through your mind when-- when you saw me? >> i was amazed. i was surprised because i can see the similarities, but i can't put a finger on it, you know, exactly what it is. but i can see we look alike, you know-- nose, mouth, cheeks, and so on. so, i can see we-- >> reporter: i can see it in the eyes. >> yeah, yeah, yeah. so, i can see we look similar. >> reporter: lisa and i don't know who our birth parents are. finding each other through d.n.a. feels like beating all odds. our story was even featured on national danish tv. ( unintelligible ) >> yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. >> we-- we did it! >> we did it! ( laughter ) >> reporter: we also met with korean adoptees in denmark. like minnesota, there are thousands here. >> nice to meet you!

>> reporter: lisa and i had fun getting to know each other during the short visit, but instead of answering questions, meeting lisa created more. now that i know about you, it just makes me start to, you know, go down the rabbit hole of, who was-- who was our father? what-- is he still alive? do we have other siblings out there? i'm also very aware that many adoptees do not get this opportunity, and that helps me to know how special it is that we-- we did find each other. >> hill: finally tonight, directors, actors, writers and musicians continue to pay tribute to stephen sondheim this weekend as two of his musicals play in new york. the legendary composer and lyricist died yesterday at his home in connecticut at age 91.

outside the theater named for him there is a now a makeshift memorial. among those sharing their memories were barbra streisand who tweeted, "thank the lord that sondheim lived to be 91 years old so he had the time to write such wonderful music and great lyrics! may he rest in peace." and playwright lin manuel miranda wrote on twitter, "some y theorize shakespeare's works were by committee, but steve was real and he was here and he laughed so loud at shows and we loved him." that's all for this edition of“ pbs newshour weekend.” for the latest news updates visit pbs.org/newshour. i'm michael hill. thanks for watching. stay healthy and have a good night. captioning sponsored by wnet captioned by media access group at wgbh access.wgbh.org >> pbs newshour weekend is made possible by: sue and edgar wachenheim iii. bernard and denise schwartz.

the cheryl and philip milstein family. the anderson family fund. the estate of worthington mayo-smith. leonard and norma klorfine. the rosalind p. walter foundation. koo and patricia yuen, committed to bridging cultural differences in our communities. barbara hope zuckerberg. we try to live in the moment, to not miss what's right in front of us. at mutual of america, we believe taking care of tomorrow can help you make the most of today. mutual of america financial group, retirement services and investments. additional support has been provided by: consumer cellular. and by: and by the corporation for public broadcasting, a private corporation funded by the american people.

and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. you're watching pbs.

announcer: this program was made possible in part by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. (audience cheering) (audience applauding) announcer: ladies and gentlemen, please welcome, the tenors. (audience cheering) (audience applauding) clifton: how we doing tonight? (audience applauding) ♪ woo, come on, y'all. victor: c'mon. ♪ oh, what a night ♪ ♪ late december back in '63 ♪ ♪ what a very special time for me ♪ ♪ as i remember, what a night ♪