all right we can now bring in line simon clark who is a microbiologist the u.k. is reading university now is it common to combine different vaccines like this. i know it's not but when we've had problems in the past they haven't been on such a grand scale as they say and it really will be i'm coltan to work out how we can get the best from our global production facilities so if we can find a way of putting together vaccines that make them work better or just as well then we can use to the most sort of degree global production facilities to make sure that we get a global vaccine roll out as quickly as possible because everybody around the world needs access to these vaccines of course that everyone is waiting this is very time sensitive but what kind of timeframe do you think we're talking about here when it comes to combining 2 different vaccines from 2 different countries. when it would take a few months to find out whether it works or not that's that the most important thing to do but there's no sense in combining vaccines if they don't work or if they don't wo

simon clark associate professor at reading university in the u.k. think you for a time and your comments you're welcome. brussels in beijing have signed a massive landmark trade deal after years of negotiations and opens up the chinese market to investment while giving beijing an inroad to strategic european projects but as artie's charlotte devinsky explains washington d.c. is not happy. they steelers almost being 7 is in the making between the e.u. in china and they've really pushed the boat out to get it done before the end of 2020 essentially it means that there is the opportunity for the e.u. for investment in certain industries this is companies within the e.u. to be able to invest in areas of china before it had barriers around them such as the financial sector and the health sector for china it means that there is this possibility of investing in renewable energy so this is something on the table for each side in this and this deal has been described by many as being the most ambitious deal that china has ever struck with a nation country to

to cause of this is thanks very much really learning to talk to you and pick your brain about simon clarke head of biomedical sciences at university of reading well in other developments the united states is about to roll out the mandela vaccine which will be the 2nd to be approved there after the one developed by pfizer castro is following events forests in washington and she says that it's going to dramatically increase the nation's vaccination capability. already we are told that biles of the mcgurn of vaccine are going into boxes the c.d.c. is meeting as i speak today and tomorrow and as soon as that approval is given trucks will depart the modern of the syllabus and carry those vaccines to all 50 states we're talking about close to 6000000 vaccines going out and joining the previous 2000000 or so some vaccines from pfizer now there have been a few hiccups along the way thus far of course pfizer has been out for a week now and some governors have complained that the number of acts in a sions they received were tens of thousands fewer than what had been promised by the federal governmen

have contracted the virus and an estimated 1800000 lives have been lost globally microbiologist simon clarke says the outbreak could have been much worse. this this virus although it's very infectious it is not desperately lethal it's mortality rate is not all that high but it causes 70 deaths by dint of the fact that it infects lots of people and we've just seen how it can be involved in to making. making a new strain that is even more interaction us and we are more connected loose you put it when we were 20 or 30 years ago and i don't see that changing anytime soon we will eventually get back to where we were say this time last year. we will continue to become more global i think that's human nature and of course the more easily people can travel around the world more easily viruses can as well but more fertility there is a virus to you people the more tuna to go before to me tell you so the possibilities is there that there will be outbreaks in the future that will cause problems and they may be bigger than this one. poll in china has highlighted the shifting perceptions of who the countr

cooperation than maria from national thank you for bringing us that report earlier i spoke with simon clark a microbiologist at the u.k. is reading university who says global cooperation is a vital during the pandemic. i wish that i could know what they're doing a good except unless they thought it was a real deal something that they should do the more data that is produced on any vaccine doesn't matter where it's produced or by whom is a good thing and it provided of course the dates there is positive then it can only . quell any public fears that people might have about actually people need to come together and find a way of getting those things that work maybe to work better or to be able to produce a more quickly or a greater amount starts what's important now. meanwhile the argentinian president says helping 1st in line to receive russia's covert job later in the bolton alberto fernandez explains why. the international criminal court has dropped a probe into alleged war crimes by u.k. armed forces and the rack that's despite the prosecutor having quote a reasonable basis to believe tha

earlier i spoke with simon clarke i microbiologist the u.k.'s at reading university who says global cooperation is vital during the pandemic. that it could know what they're doing and wouldn't accept it unless they thought it was a real deal something that they should do the more data that is produced on any vaccine does about so where it's produced or by whom it's a good thing and i you know provided of course the data there is positive then it could only. quell any public fears that people might have about actually people need to come together and find a way of getting those things that work maybe to work better or to be able to produce them more quickly or in greater amounts that's what's important now meanwhile the president of argentina has given a thumbs up to russia's coronavirus vaccine about our fernando's said that once the drug is approved by the country's medical regulator he would be the 1st person to receive this but think of the jab at him that he had no doubts about its quality and when a similar in argentina some raise doubts a

but dr simon clarke, an associate professor in cellular microbiology at reading university, told theravel. there's a good service on the tubes this morning. and for the rest of the travel news, tune in to bbc radio london who have updates every 15 minutes. now the weather with elizabeth. hello, it's a touch cooler than it was this time yesterday, but still another frost—free start to the day. most of us will agree it's a more pleasant day of weather than we saw yesterday. it won't be quite as wet or as windy. but there are still showers blowing in on a still fairly noticeable south—westerly wind. mostly up towards western home counties, but plenty of dry weather throughout the day. the showers won't line up as they did yesterday, and there will be some sunny spells about, as well. top temperatures again well above seasonal average, peaking at 11—12c, 5a fahrenheit. through this evening and overnight, the showers should have faded away, so it should look largely dry. there will be plenty of cloud around, and, again, it's a frost—free start to the day with overnight lows of around 6—7

joining us on the phone is simon clark, associate professor in cellular microbiology. thank you for joining. where are we on the vaccines, where are we with the other ones? the astrazeneca oxford vaccine is due to be licensed sometime this week. the other vaccines, that will be next year. we will wait however regulators decide appropriate that the oxford vaccine to be dosed. that is the big question, how they're going to allow medics to apply that vaccine. alix: let's talk about this new strain in the u.k. that seems to be spreading. is there concerned that these new vaccines will be able to tackle that? strain appears in the u.k., the southeast. the general opinion at the moment is that will not present much of a problem for vaccines. there are multiple changes in the targets for the actual vaccine. i don't think it is enough to blow it out of the water. i expect the problem to be a small one. they believe they have engineered vaccines to accommodate this new strain, they might not need to do that. we do a similar thing each year with the flu shot. alix: sure enough.

vaccines being rolled out in a moscow alexandra good for thanks very much indeed let's hear now from simon clark who's an associate professor in microbiology at the university of reading and he says that the approval for this russian vaccine has been rushed out too early. i think the skepticism around this comes from the fact that it's been worked on very quickly it's be to be developed very quickly and it appears to be big put into the general population rather it earlier than it would do if you have been developed say in the u.k. but the trials that doesn't go on do not appear to have been as extensive as they would have been in this country well they haven't done is there live injected into people. looks to see whether a control group who didn't have a vaccine they would have had something out of the blue to happen vaccine have different rates of infection and that's how they come up with the 95 percent number but those those study groups are still very small of the smaller they are and i think this is possibly a problem with the russians it was the small of those groups are the less accurate

starley—grainger and associate professor in cellular microbiology at the university of reading, simon clarke about that? what the government has said is they've put on... they have freed up the timetable. there shouldn't be much in the way of works. so most trains should be running. about 95% will be running toa running. about 95% will be running to a normal schedule. they have put on extra carriages. they've also issued guidelines to train companies for them to adapt to their own services. a lot of train companies are saying they will only operate at about 50% capacity. a lot of train companies are also requiring that you book a seat in advance so they can make sure you are spaced out appropriately. however, like any form of public transport there are no guarantees, and there aren't going to be police going through the carriages checking this. you are required to wear a mask throughout your train journey, required to wear a mask throughout your trainjourney, no matter how long it is, so make sure you have a mask otherwise you won't be allowed to get on board and you might be asked to get of