hello, and welcome to the royal college of physicians in london. 've come here for this edition of global questions to talk about covid—19 and vaccines. well, the united kingdom is the first western country to roll out a mass nationwide vaccination programme, and we're all hoping this will mark the end of the coronavirus nightmare. but questions linger about the durability of the vaccines, and with millions refusing to take the jab, how safe will all the rest of us be? that's global questions. the covid jab: is it really the silver bullet? well, here in the royal college of physicians, we have an audience drawn from london's multinational community, and they will be putting their questions to our two panellists. so, let me tell you who's in the hot seat this week giving the answers. professor david salisbury is an eminent doctor who has served as the uk's director of immunisation, responsible for the national programme that led to the introduction of many new vaccines. he works extensively with the world health organization on vaccines. and suerie m

but for now from me, zaynab badawi, and for the rest of the team, it is goodbye from the royal college of physiciansngs, stay safe, and goodbye. hello there. friday was another unsettled day, a day that brought many of us outbreaks of rain. the rain was most persistent in aberdeenshire but, equally, there were a few brighter moments — for example, here in cornwall to allow these rather stunning rainbows to develop. we have at the moment a very slow—moving area of low pressure crossing the country. further patches of rain moving generally slowly eastwards and with the winds very light, again, we're starting to see some dense patches of fog form particularly across eastern england. visibility is already down to 100 metres in places with the foggy weather really from essex northwards into the east midlands, perhaps east anglia, lincolnshire, and yorkshire. that's where the poorest visibility is likely to be. whereas further west, the skies tending to clear. this is where we'll see some of the lowest temperatures early on saturday morning. and saturday itself, it's a day where pressure is going to be ri

olwen williams, vice president of royal college of physicians in wales, says it's only the tip of the situation across wales is quite sobering. the number of people that are presenting symptoms of covid—i9 that not only require hospital admission but are so seriously ill they require intensive ca re seriously ill they require intensive care and more than 50% of our bed occupancy in intensive care is now due to covid—i9 patients, it's very worrying. meanwhile, hospital admissions for coronavirus have continued to rise across england. saffron cordery is the deputy chief executive of nhs providers, she explained the pressures hospitals were under. we are seeing a real rise in the pressure for hospital services, but also other types of nhs services as well, notjust hospitals, ambulance trusts in particular are coming under extreme pressure, our community and mental health services. everybody affected by the impact of covid—19 and talking to trust leaders overnight, they are under no illusions about how challenging this is at the moment and part of the issue is many more people coming thro

let's talk to professorjackie taylor, the president of the royal college of physicians and surgeons ofrge numbers of patients coming in with covid. i was on on christmas day and it was wall—to—wall covid. we see patients who are coming in who have covid symptoms. we also see other patients coming in with problems who turn out to be covid positive. between that there is a great deal of difficulty getting those patients through into the wards.|j of difficulty getting those patients through into the wards. i will come back to you in a minute. if i can ask you the same question, professor jackie taylor, how much pressure is there where you are? yes, we are seeing significant pressure within scotland. in fact, our busiest time was in october and november. the pressures that london and the south—east is currently under, we have already endured in october and november. we are seeing significant amounts of patients with covert —— covid, and other emergencies we see at this time of the year that mount up at this time of the year that mount up to our standard winter pressures. professor taylor,