i'll ask economic historian niall ferguson. >> this is the kind of event that only happens a couple of times a century, let's say. >>> also, the far right in germany is on the rise, again. this troubling trend is mostly in reaction to a dire threat that never materialized. i'll explain. but first, here is "my take." the united states is entering a post-pandemic era. this is happening primarily because of the one aspect of this pandemic that differentiates it from mostly all previous ones in history. the triumph of science. within a year of covid-19 outbreak, the world saw the emergence of several high-quality vaccines. this is truly breathtaking. a decade ago the scientific consensus was it took ten to 15 years and a lot of luck to produce a vaccine for a new disease. over half of the adult population in the united states has received at least one dose of the vaccine, daily infection rates are dropping fast almost everywhere as are hospitalizations. there are some states that even on some days are reporting zero covid deaths. there are still dangers, vaccination rates are slowing down

ferguson is here, welcome to the show niall. >> things can degrade to be with you. kennedy: let's discuss first and foremost you were one of the first people to really write about covid in terms of a catastrophe and a pandemic. a lot of people did know it to believe it was true. they thought it was essentially alarm is in. so if there is another pandemic coming, i think there could be another disaster but not necessarily in the form of a pandemic, how do we separate a alarmism from reality and true warning signs? >> let's look back. i am a historian my job is to spot these patterns. we have a pattern of mismanaging disaster that goes back a long way. i don't think we can claim we manage 911 very brilliantly for think about what we subsequently did. i will not even get into katrina. it's given to the financial crisis we thought we had a regulated financial system a blip on our faces but on paper the united states was prepared for a pandemic 2019 was ranked top of the charts from the pandemic all those turned out to be useless when a pandemic happened? we need to unde

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niall ferguson, appreciate you making time. thank you. >>> coming up.t numbers took a lot of folks by surprise. nbc's stephanie ruhle will break it all down, just ahead. stay close. >> it's never been this hard to hire, and it's -- it's been such a surprise to us. my husband and i have never eaten healthier. shingles doesn't care. i logged 10,000 steps today. shingles doesn't care. i get as much fresh air as possible. good for you, but shingles doesn't care. because 1 in 3 people will get shingles, you need protection. but no matter how healthy you feel your immune system declines as you age, increasing your risk for getting shingles. so what can protect you? shingrix protects. for the first time ever, you can protect yourself from shingles with a vaccine proven to be over 90% effective. shingrix is a vaccine used to prevent shingles in adults 50 years and older. shingrix does not protect everyone and is not for those with severe allergic reactions to its ingredients or to a previous dose. the most common side effects are pain, redness, and swelling at

professor niall ferguson says life should start getting back to normal thanks to the vaccination programmehe says questions remain over holidays particularly travelling abroad this year but was optimistic about life returning with far fewer restrictions. masks and social distancing, strict limits on gatherings and socialising, they've been unprecedented restrictions on everyday lives for much of the pandemic, but there's an increasing sense that things could be much closer to the old normal by the summer. one of the key scientists involved in lockdown policy told me he's much more confident. it will feel a lot more normal in terms of being able to visit friends, family, go out to restaurants. we have yet to see what will happen in terms of holidays, particularly overseas holidays, but we will have many fewer restrictions. pubs and restaurants will allow customers back indoors soon. this was manchester today. then there's the planned end of all legal restrictions in england from june 21. professor ferguson believes another lockdown is unlikely and that the data suggests things are track. wi

behind lockdown says life in the uk will start to feel normal again by this summer, though professor niall ferguson says questions still remain over overseas travel. that is all. goodbye from me and we joined the bbc news teams where you are. hello and welcome to sportsday. coming up on the programme this evening... afterfive coming up on the programme this evening... after five seasons trying, can pep guardiola guide manchester city to champions league final? it's all eyes on the etihad tonight. out of fashion at tottenham — butjust two weeks later, jose mourinho bags a newjob with roma. on the bubble has been breached and the indian premier league covid cases ring an abrupt end to the action. hello and welcome to sportsday. there's a massive night ahead for manchester city with history on the line — a place in a first champions league final could be won as pep guardiola and his side host paris st germain and go into the second leg with a 2—1 lead. guardiola has won europe's top prize twice with barcelona, but has yet to bring that success to city in his five seasons trying. let's cross l

these are among the questions taken on by historian and senior fellow at the hoover institution, niall the politics of catastrophe ". great to have you on. just looking, starting with the coronavirus pandemic, which got a lot worse than it needed to. don't you think at this point, it was disinformation even from the very top at the united states of america? >> mika, that was certainly part of the problem. but i think if we tell ourselves that if only someone else would have been president, someone other than donald trump who would have been done much, much better, we might have been kidding ourselves. as i talk about in the book, president trump made any number of mistakes. but that's not really why we ended up with half a million plus of excess mortality. plus, we know how this was done well, because in taiwan and in south korea, they ramped up testing, they did integrated contact tracing and isolated the infected or the suspected infected. we did none of those things. in practice, it's not really the president who organizes pandemic response. the president is not king emperor. there'

behind lockdown says life in the uk will start to feel normal again by this summer, though professor nialle you are. hello and welcome to sportsday. coming up on the programme this evening... afterfive coming up on the programme this evening... after five seasons trying, can pep guardiola guide manchester

so i want to ask him about comments made this morning by niall ferguson on the today programme, he saidrms of search, testing, the vaccine roll out, improvements to test and trace, that we really are able to open up as everyone wants on june the 21st? it is able to open up as everyone wants on june the 21st?— june the 21st? it is true that the indian variant i june the 21st? it is true that the indian variant is i june the 21st? it is true that the indian variant is spreading i june the 21st? it is true that the | indian variant is spreading across the country. estimates vary as to what proportion of the new cases each day are the variant first identified in india which is more transmissible. my assessment is that it is too early to say yet whether we can take the full step forward on the 21st ofjune. like him, i desperately want us to, but we�*ll only do that if it is safe. we will make a formal assessment ahead of the 14th ofjune as to what step we can take on the 21st, and in that, we will bejoe driven by the data, guided by the science and we will be fully transparent with this hous