here stay distant due to coronavirus. ♪ >> these are the top stories. more than 40 countries have closed their borders to flights and travelers from the u.k. due to concerns over a mutated strain of coronavirus. the british government says it is working to ensure that freight including food supplies will not be affected. eu member states preparing to roll out the pfizer-biontech vaccine after it was given the green light by regulators. france, italy, and germany say they will begin max fascinations by sunday. the number of infections in the

united states has now gone past the 80 million mark. this comes as lawmakers are looking to finalize a $900 billion package. they have until monday to vote on the deal and prevent a government shutdown. more from washington, d.c.. reporter: what this bill contains, it is massive really, we are focusing on the covid element put this of course keeps the government running for the next fiscal year. there are measures unrelated to covid, unrelated to federal funding that have been thrown in there. on this covid piece, stimulus in the form of direct payments to americans, helping with rental assistance, food assistance, things that american families are desperately needing right now. anchor: escalation of violence

in the central african republic ahead of this week's election. rwanda has sent troops to the country. some have accused rebels backed by the former president. u.s. attorney general william barr says that russia is behind what is the largest cyberattack of government agencies and companies. president donald trump has suggested without evidence that china is responsible. those are the headlines. more coming up after inside story.

>> out of control and spreading fast. a highly contagious coronavirus strain in the u.k.. where does that leave the fight against the pandemic. this is "inside story." anchor: hello and welcome to the program. it may be up to 70% transmissible. a coronavirus variant in southeast england is spreading and spreading quickly. health experts say there is no evidence it is more deadly or will react differently to a

vaccine. it is believed the virus be tatian was first detected in september and the u.k. government has been aware of it since last month. scientists wanted tougher lockdown measures introduced then. the u.k. government says it is working closely to understand the impact the variant could have on how we deal with the pandemic. it has so far been detected in the netherlands, denmark, italy, and australia. the netherlands was the first to announce a flight ban to the u.k. on sunday. kuwait was the first non-european nation to place a travel ban travelers arriving from the u.k. germany has called for a coordinated response. some countries have already started inoculation schemes and others are receiving supplies of the vaccine.

while rich nations have rushed to sign deals, there are fears that those less well-off will miss out. campaigners warned that nine out of 10 people in at least 74 countries will not get vaccinated next year. however, the world health organization says nearly 2 billion doses of vaccines have been secured under a global initiative. the doses could be shipped out once approved in the first quarter of next year. let's bring in our guest. in lancaster, a researcher in viral medicine. the director of health at the international red cross and red crescent societies. in london, max lawson, the head of inequality policy at oxfam international. emmanuel, let me start with you. as i understand it, scientists are concerned about the variance

in the coronavirus, but they are not surprised. why is that? >> we know that viruses mutate. so who are not surprised to see mutation in this case. what we are seeing is a very high number of mutations, an indication of potential higher transmissibility of the virus. science is studying the information that we do have. then we need to keep a close eye on this virus and understand better how it is functioning and what kind of additional risk the virus presents not only to the u.k. and europe, but the entire world? anchor: health officials say that this virus be tatian is proving to be up to 70% more --

virus mutation is proving to be up to 70% more transmissible. but that is based on modeling, correct? >> yes. we have 17 different mutations making this variant a bit more prominent than we would have expected from other viruses. three of them are of critical concern. one of them is really the basis that this virus is highly transmissible. at this moment, if we look onto the positive cases in the greater london and southeast region, six out of 10 positive cases belonging to this variant. that is really defining its nature and becoming more dominant in this part of the world. anchor: it has been reported that disputation was identified in london as far back as

september. should more f been done sooner to try and understand this variant and try and stop its spread? >> i think definitely. the lack of transparency, the poor governance, is not unique to the united kingdom, but you can see big mistakes are being made and it will cost lives. the sooner the world can respond to developments like this, the better. at the moment, we are looking at a situation where rich countries are working -- are hoarding the vaccine and protecting big pharmaceutical companies while the rest of the world has to watch and get scared at this new variant. anchor: several countries in the world have started barring travelers coming in from the united kingdom. but irtysh officials have said that this variant have already been detected in other

countries. is it essentially too late to be doing this? is it more likely that this mutated strain of the coronavirus is already out there? >> the indication is that that mutated virus may already be out there. this is a precautionary measure that many countries are taking based on preliminary information. you may remember the discussion in march about closing of airspace and delays about that. i think countries are taking a much more proactive stand at this point and i think that is understandable based on the information that are available. but, again, we have to follow the science in the next few days and weeks. anchor: scientists have been on the lookout for mutations that can potentially enhance the

virus going forward. how long would it take for the coronavirus to evolve to the point where a vaccine would be rendered ineffective? >> we do know that most of the viruses, particularly the rna viruses, they mutate much more than the dna viruses. they accommodate the mutation over the time. sars-2 is not too bad at accommodating mutations. so far, we are seeing 1-2 mutations occur in per month. that means right now 20 have occurred. when we talk about vaccine efficacy, the vaccine induces immune responses against different viral components. a few of those you tatian's, even if they occur altogether, will not make the vaccine

ineffective. if the vaccine keeps mutating, most of the important sides are mutated into a different version, at that point, the vaccine efficacy would become very low or negligible. that would take time. this particular variant, although it was detected on september 20, but this does not guarantee that this has been there on september 20. it may have been accommodating there for a long time. anchor: emmanuelle, i saw you nodding along to a lot of what he was saying there. >> the immediate response is we do have vaccines that are now effective and already being distributed. this is one of the best tools we do have to reduce or tell eddie

due to this virus. these vaccines are likely to continue being effective for the foreseeable future. i want to make sure that we keep that hope of the vaccines and we do all that we can to make sure everyone everywhere the world can have access to the vaccines as soon as possible. that, for me, and for the red cross in general, is a priority for me at the moment. anchor: max, i want to ask you to expand on an important point you are making a moment ago, about how wealthy nations are buying at hoarding more vaccine stock than they need. the peoples vaccine alliance has said that unless drastic measures are taken, more than -- only 70 low income countries will be able to vaccinate only one in 10 people in this next year. what can be done to combat this?

>> it is very concerning. on the one hand, you have a situation where nine out of 10 people in the majority of developing countries watching this program will not have access to any safe or effective vaccine until 2022 at the earliest. obviously, that is unacceptable. on the other hand, you have rich nations who have bought enough vaccines to vaccinate every single one of their citizens three times over. that is obviously a crazy situation. you add on top of that, the fact that the thing that is artificially rationing supply in the world is that, despite public money being used, the licenses for these vaccines have been given to huge pharmaceutical firms like pfizer, who cannot produce enough for the world, are charging a very high price.

you have a situation where rich nations have enough vaccine but they are paying a very high price for it. and poor nations will be lucky if they get this vaccine before 2022. that was even before this new variant, this new mutation, which shows you how important it is that we get the whole world vaccinated as soon as possible. otherwise, you will have a situation where rich countries popular -- rich countries vaccinate their population, it continues to mutate in other countries, and their population is not protected. we have to break through and mass-produce vaccines for the world. the way to do that is to have open licensing, open recipes, if you like, for these vaccines. so that companies, vaccine producers all over the world, can mass-produce these safe and effective vaccines as fast as

possible. at the moment, that is not happening. anchor: in south africa, a version of the virus has emerged which seems to share some of the mutations found in the variant discovered in england. what else do we know at this point about that variant? >> the south african variant as well as the brill -- as well as the brazilian variant, a lot of research has already been conducted onto those. if we really translate those impact on to this new variant here in the u.k., it appears it will have impact on to the transmissibility but did not have any impact on to the disease severity and efficacy as it stands. >> vaccine efficacy is such a

problem right now. are you concerned that news of this virus mutation will make people already skeptical of taking the vaccines think that, since there is a new variant, it is not worth getting vaccinated? is this only going to increase the anti-vaccine sentiment that is out there? >> the problem is real and it is big. a number of researchers have demonstrated that only a tiny percent of the population, around 30%, would be ready for a vaccine right now. certainly, this news about variance would add more hesitancy. we need to work at transmitting the right information about the importance of vaccines, how important they are to save lives, and continue investing in

that. particularly, needs to go in those populations that do not have access to traditional or social media, to ensure that the acceptance for the vaccines increases. we know this is one of the best tools we have to stop this pandemic. anchor: when it comes to distributing a limited number of vaccines, it seems that the only criteria that has emerged thus far, globally i'm speaking about, is that along with the essential workers, the elderly, and people with chronic illnesses are on the list first get the vaccine. forward, from this vantage point , what would this take into account? in the u.s., minority

populations have been affected by covid-19? going forward, determining what the most vulnerable relations are and whether or not they should be prioritized as such? >> i think it is a great question. you have a situation where people of afro dissent in brazil are more likely to die of covid-19 that white people. you can have critical debates in every country about who desperately needs this vaccine first. then you have to look at the economic impact. in many poor countries, the economic impact is taking as many lives. it is leading to hunger, destitution. we have to look at economically active groups. i have to underline the point i made earlier, which is that all of this is entirely academic when there are simply not enough vaccines being produced for the vast majority of humanity.

it is an academic discussion when they don't even have enough vaccines to do their health workers, let alone other groups, when rich countries can faxes -- can vaccinate everybody three times over. we need to fix the supply problem, we need to reduce the price, max produce, and produce a cheap and effective vaccine, which is in the interests of rich countries as much as developing countries. anchor: this potential of collectively facing down pharmaceutical groups. trying to ensure that there is more equitable distribution. to go around and vaccinate everybody in the world. no matter the financial status of the group. is this something that is doable given the structures in place?

>> probably something very difficult. if i can bring a ray of hope, certainly referring to covax, an initiative launched this year that aims to bring 2 million doses to low income countries. it is a multilateral initiative underground by the world health organization. the idea is really to bring this equity. there was a press release last week that confirmed that 2 billion doses should become available for 92 countries starting in 2021 with the first doses going to help workers and then progressively reaching up to 20% of the population in these low income countries. this is a massive -- it's going

to have an impact. is this going to solve the problems of the world? no, but will it address certain inequities? yes. everyone's commitment to vaccines. anchor: have there been any more advances when it comes to medical therapies to treat covid-19? is there any consensus when it comes to, for example, monoclonal antibody theory -- antibody therapy? >> yes, advancements have been made for different treatments as far as the vaccine. astrazeneca, johnson & johnson, these are progressing down the line as well. adding the point earlier, it is not just the commitment, it is the -- it is going to continue.

certainly, the monoclonal antibodies have had -- allowed not to have it approved. anchor: the european union has been so criticized this past year for its handling of the pandemic. there are meetings going on right now to try and get to some point where there is more coordination between countries because there is so much fear about this new mutation. are there any indications that the european union will do anything differently this time? has it learned its lessons from the mass failings of the last year? >> those who have handled this crisis first in the world. to be honest, you are sitting here in the u.k..

i think i would rather be in the eu in terms of government and our ability to handle this crisis. all governments are under pressure here. i think it is crucial that governments like the eu and joe biden, the president-elect, look beyond the very short term nationalism. they have the means to do this. we were all very happy and hopeful seeing those first people being vaccinated in the you cast and that in the u.s. and the u.k. we need to see that hope and that faith in the future spread all over the world. that is only going to happen if rich nations, the eu and the u.s., commit to safe vaccines for everybody. the only way they would do that is to smash through the system of pharmaceutical profit and monopoly. the kovacs setup is good but as

your interviewer said, even if it manages to do what it is set up to do, which seems unlikely, and we saw a week ago that it is at risk of failure, than it would only be able to vaccinate two out of 10 people in developing countries by 2022. we have to do better than that for the people of those nations but also as we said earlier ron, if we want to stop this virus in its tracks, the virus anywhere is the virus everywhere. we cannot do that through rich country charity, donations. it has to be a systematic attempt to flood the world with cheap and effective vaccines. it is covax but it has to be a lot more than that. anchor: do you believe these new restrictions linda going to complicate the rollout of the vaccine -- restrictions in england going to complicate the rollout of the vaccine?

>> i think the vaccine will rollout. there will be some hesitancy but a lot of people will recognize the importance of having the vaccines and the efforts to make sure that particularly health-care workers can receive this vaccine as soon as possible. one thing i would like to mention is why the vaccines are being rolled out in the u.k., the u.s., we need to remember that this will be a slow ocess. public health measures put in place over the past several months, going from physical distancing to the use of masks and sometimes hard restrictions, will have to continue if we want to contain this pandemic. at the same time, we will have to strengthen it all countries the ability to do testing, contact tracing. the control of epidemics, the,

testing, and isolation. we will have to continue all over the world and improve the way we do it. anchor: mohammed, let me ask you to expand on the point emmanuel was making. from your point of view, does it seem like people around the world our understanding that these practices that emmanuel spoke about, all the guidelines in place to try and present the guidelines for covid-19, this vantage point understanding this instead of, hey, this is going to be gone soon? >> the vast majority of people assume that the vaccine is a magic lead and will change the whole scenario. i think it is a responsibility on the government, on the

community level, to make sure that this is simply a good start into ending this pandemic. the vaccines are lifesaving vaccines, not the ones that will be blocking the transmission of the infections. we have to follow all of the public health for the future until we reach the herd immunity. at that point, will be at the point to slow this restriction and get to the new normal. anchor: we have run out of time so we will have to leave the conversation there. thank you to all of our guests. and thank you for watching. you can see the program any time by visiting our website. for further discussion, go to our facebook page. you can also join the conversation on twitter. our handle is @ajinsidestory. bye for now. ♪

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