this is the w. do this live from berlin tonight the u.k. becomes the 1st western country to approve a coded 19 vaccine but we do plan the n.h.s. has been preparing for the p.b.s. programme of mass specs a nation in the street of the u.k. that's going to begin next week this is big news also for the vaccine developers buy on take in pfizer they are racing to produce and deliver the vaccine on time also coming up tonight prison time for demanding democracy just rolled into other hong kong activists will spend time behind bars for their role in anti-government

protests. by brinkerhoff it's good to have you with us tonight and historic and a 1st step in the fight to end the coronavirus pandemic the u.k. has become the 1st country in the world to approve a coded 19 vaccine the vaccine was developed jointly by germany's buy on tech and the u.s. pharmaceutical pfizer shipments of the vaccine are expected to reach british distribution centers by the week you. it's a ray of hope after months of punishing lockdowns in the u.k. the country's covert 1000 vaccination program will start next week 8 100000 doses are reportedly standing by with another 20000000 on the way i'm just so so pleased that 2020 has been just awful and 2021 is going to be better and help is

on its way to the elderly and health care workers will be at the front of the line the health authorities here say the vaccine is safe this vaccine has only been approved because those strict tests have been done and complied with and everyone can be absolutely confident that no corners whatsoever have been caught by antec and its partner company finds or are priming their supply chain for the 1st major deliveries. we have started immediately the process of delivering our vaccine we expect that. the vaccine in the u.k. will happen within the next couple of days almost a year after the discovery of the sars virus it's increasingly looking likely that enough vaccine doses will be available. there are currently 48 vaccine candidates

undergoing clinical trials according to the world health organization moderna has joined by own tech pfizer in applying for emergency approval of its vaccine in the u.k. is after seneca and germany's karabakh are also in advanced stages of development in russia the controversial sputnik 5 vaccine from the gamma institute was approved in august and china is allowing volunteers to be vaccinated with preparations from send back and say no farm without regulatory approval biotech pfizer's vaccine purports to offer 95 percent protection against covert 19 but it has to be transported in extremely cold temperatures posing a major hurdle for its distribution. well more now on joined by professor robert reed from the university of southampton mr reed is a member of the u.k. joint committee for vaccines and immunization mistreats good to have you on the program pardon me the world watched in astonishment today upon hearing that britain approved the body on tech pfizer vaccine how was the country able to reach approval

before anyone else. well the the the manufacturers provided all of the data and the government bodies responsible for deciding on safety and efficacy that our medicines and health agency ruled that the vaccine is safe according to the data that's been received and education in the in the dose than say is nominated which is that you micrograms of the vaccine in 2 days 2 doses that. day 0 and day 21 the u.k. government sets find that it is safe and efficacious the code is the data provided to the u.k. and mr you know that here in the european union and in the united states people will certainly be asking why are the british faster i mean what are they doing that we are not doing are our regulatory systems to slow things what would you say what

would be the answer to that. no i don't i don't i don't think so i think certainly the regulator agencies in the u.k. have been expecting the information to arrive the u.k. government did in fact make advance orders for vaccines that are considered to be viable so these are these are arrangements made with the manufacturer is just using the information that's available to all governments so i don't think there are regulations in other countries is just that you know they're just responding to the same information that the u.k. government is responding to now we understand that 800000 doses will be ready for next week is the u.k. has it prepared for the start of this mass vaccination program and who will receive the 1st vaccinations. so yes the u.k.

government is ready for the start of the program because of course it's been able to plan knowing that there will eventually be a vaccine available for several months so. the rollout is already planned and the the various agencies that conduct the distribution of the vaccine are in place already which is true probably of the germany and probably true of 'd of the parts of the united states as well so the 1st people to receive the vaccine in the u.k. will include people who are the most vulnerable to the severe effects of coronavirus so this includes groups that are elderly and residential in care homes and it will also include frontline national health service da'ath and people who care for the elderly in care and then after that we will vaccination the u.k. people in rank order or severity of disease as we have observed epidemiologically

over the last 6 months all right professor robert reed joining us tonight we appreciate your time in your insights tonight professor thank you thank you. or let's have a look now at some of the other stories that are making headlines around the world staying with the growth of virus pandemic france says it will make random border checks to stop people going skiing in neighboring countries such as switzerland where ski resorts are expected to be open over the holiday period french ski lifts will remain closed over christmas in other news the united nations has reached an agreement with ethiopia to allow aid into government controlled areas of the tea growing region the conflict between addis ababa and rebel forces as displays tens of thousands of people of the year when have been warning for a week said a possible humanitarian catastrophe and a german man is being investigated on 5 counts of murder in 18 counts of attempted

murder after he drove his car into pedestrians in the city of tree or presidents have been paying their respects at the weigh in marc city gate no motive for the attack as yet been established. a court in hong kong has sentenced 3 leading pro-democracy activists to prison for their involvement in last year's anti-government protests the widest sentence 13 and a half months was handed to joshua wall but he remains defiant veiling to continue to fight for democracy from inside prison. we are with you supporters of hong kong's pro-democracy movement turned out to cheer as buses took just and fellow activists agnes chow and ivan lamb to prison there was criticism for wednesday sentences from young and old. going a sentence is too harsh and it's not right for the court to hand down such

sentences to young people with their futures ahead of them and what a mother mcdaid i did anything and then veteran activist a very angry told t w that beijing clearly wanted to use wong and the others to set an example. to send a strong. signal doctors to the whole harbor to the world. no matter how much support you have in a public or rational community. they're going to. 'd be. suppressing that there's a reason i interest one has been a prominent figure in hong kong's pro-democracy movement. in 2014 he helped spearhead the umbrella movement for months of protest spurred by a government plan to prescreen candidates for local elections this demonstration has been peaceful and the police haven't bothered us much but now they've brought tear gas and plastic bullets we have to do all we can to protect ourselves. he was

1st arrested at the age of 17 long became an international political figure. in 2016 he founded a new political party demo sisto aiming to define hong kong's long term future one himself was too young to be a candidate though that didn't stop him from trying to run for office. in 2019 he was jailed for 2 months but he was released in time to join widespread protests over a planned new extradition law to mainland china these demonstrations were much more violent one was arrested along with thousands of others. on july 2020 things went from bad to worse for pro-democracy activists china passed a new security law for hong kong that made wong's dema sister party illegal the

party disbanded and one went to trial for his activities in last year's protests. undeterred he told the w in a recent interview that he would not back down. grayson boss never stopped me from activism and thinking critically even is such difficulty timing what then 10000 of us were arrest this is last summer and 2000 people including me were prosecutor it is still important for us to stay and fight after wednesday sentencing wong one small renewed his commitment to the cause in a statement on twitter released by his lawyers he vowed that this was not the end of the fight for democracy and freedom in hong kong well our next guest is a member of the hong kong protest movement he has asked us not to reveal his identity or his location so we are calling him conor tonight conor it's good to have you on the program your reaction to the news of this 13 and a half month prison sentence for joshua wall right

i think the sentence was quite harsh but for the court system in hong kong this has become the new norm. obviously harsher sentences have been dish and have been dished out to many other less and 9 protest is not under the limelight that thousands of them names that are on the mainstream media and. yet. along with the beijing crackdown very recently sorry. along with the beijing crackdowns recently that i think this kind of a ha sentencing will only go on so that the these sentences were certainly meant to send a message how worried are you as a protester yourself about your own safety moving forward well i think it's not just anyone else living in this new atmosphere of. protest is

x. especially the ones. it is smith and being freud fearing for their lives and this is hindering their movements a bit this is undeniable but that said we still have to move on the especially for the comrades that have already been captured and put behind boss not only people like joshua wall right aside from them they are still the 12 detainees in china that we're trying to. arrested in the open seas so people like them and they are the reason why we move forward i spoke with joshua wong some time lanced year and he said to me that he was hoping that germany and the united states would come to the aid of the pro-democracy movement in hong kong that has not happened yet so how do you think it will be possible then moving forward to continue fighting for

democracy in hong kong. well this has become a thank you for your question so this has. very right in saying that and that that has that statement it's only become more true estonia as time has passed so emphasis on the international stage and how international actors will act as a more significant in the problem as the one compel them becomes an international problem so that while i'm saying this is. firstly asshole called us of being exiled from their home and and an addict and continue to move this movement they will have to seek help in other countries in the west and they can continue to fight that's the 1st thing and another thing is some countries around the well suffering countries western countries they have to stand strong and to resist this chinese expansion this is to protect your own sovereignty is the best way to help hong kong in protecting hong kong's as well i think it's more about resisting it

empire now conor we appreciate you taking the time to talk with us tonight and we certainly wish you all the best thank you thank you so much thank you. you're watching. the fight against the corona virus pandemic. has the rate of infection been developing what does the latest research say. information and context the coronavirus update. on t.w. . w's crime fighters are back with africa's most successful radio

drama series continues through all of this odes are available online edge of course you can share and discuss long w. africa's facebook page and other social media platforms. tune in now. how to be get infected with the coronavirus top anees researchers have used a supercomputer to simulate how viral particles move their findings show how far even the smallest droplets can spread and how moch social distancing. impacts the spread of covert 19. their research suggests that the use of humidifiers may help limit infections indoors during times when regular ventilation isn't possible. until vaccines are widely available doctors suggest sticking to the 3 w.'s what's

your distance wash your hands and where a mosque. the simulation makes the invisible threats visible could help people to evaluate with infection. this is the dumping is coded $900.00 special i'm kate ferguson thanks for joining me the united kingdom has become the 1st country in the world to approve a coronavirus vaccine developed by germany's biotech us pharma giant pfizer bush's record 3 authorities say the job can be delivered in the coming days the vaccine which has been found to be 95 percent effective in trials uses m r and a technology to train the body to create antibodies against the disease but until a vaccine is rolled out around the world the usual rules wash your hands keep your

distance where a mosque remain the only way to guard against the virus here in europe many countries are still struggling to deal with surging infection numbers in spain a nighttime curfew is in place across the country. reporter young philip shots discovered not everyone is sticking to the rules. every week and police have been knocking on hundreds of doors to shut down illegal parties meetings of up to 6 people who are not related but police have broken up parties of more than 200 who are keen as a business student in madrid he only wants to speak briefly and anonymously as he regularly goes to such parties he himself recently helped organize one. of the we just rented a place so we could drink and smoke inside just a few visitors even but that didn't last long honestly young people's biggest fear is having to pay

a fine that's why this place is need to be well insulated so the neighbors and the police won't detect anything if you don't know the. who are keen and his friends seem unfazed by this that just makes the furred of spending has become infected with the coronavirus at private parties police chief javier fine and this is especially troubled by the new business model being developed. bars that are actually supposed to be closed certainly do take money in exchange for letting people in there's a clear economic incentive for it apart from that we have discovered private homes that were charging entrance fees right at the front door this isn't just about a few friends meeting up psychiatry's diego figueroa is calling for more empathy with a young people even if you support strictly abiding by the hygiene measures experts are starting to acknowledge the consequences of such drastic restrictions on young people socialites. right now we have finding out that young people's mental health

problems have increased dramatically as a result of this spring's lockdown suicides that increased by 22 percent so far and attempted suicides have even increased by 35 percent on top of that there's been a major increase in the consumption of alcohol in psychoactive drugs. young spaniards are no confronted with new rules all bars in madrid must close at 11 pm and curfew begins at midnight after a year of the pandemic has a mess of li effect at the quality of life of young people all over the world at the same time experts keep emphasizing how dangerous partying can be in the current situation spain's chief f.u.d. amala just even directly turned to spain's you with them to refrain from parties at the moment. even so business students who are keen doesn't want to be forbidden from partying he says he can decide for himself what risk he's willing to tolerate

even if it means partying in private homes until 6 am for the duration of the curfew. let's bring in professor lydia murawski from the science and engineering faculty at the queensland university of technology in brisbane professor oscar welcome to the show you've been warning about the dangers of airborne transmission of cova 1004 months now how does that make you feel to hear the young man in the report we just saw say he simply doesn't want to be forbidden from partying. something which i come truly understand that at this stage of pandemic someone can say something like this of course the person can individually take up take a risk and say i'm going to be infected it's my business but it's not it's really a super responsibility to consider this if you are an picked it and you are going to go around infecting others who potentially can die because of this it's not just

your personal issue now at the beginning of the pandemic the prevailing advice that's just wash your hands and keep your distance but you were among those early on who recognise that this may not be enough to prevent infection what's the latest research telling us. everybody's asking about their latest research about is this is not about what was just discovered it is something which we knew all i mean sundays for a long time and seems science one we've been warning that something needs to be done in terms of proper recommendations and proper record nishan of the risk of transmission and it's not just copy not just this band pandemic but all respiratory infections transmitted dissuade somehow no one was interested to listen you during australian or internationally so when this pandemic came we really put all our

words to bring this mode of transmission into ford focus our certainly listening now let's talk specifically about a distance we've been told to stay one and a half to 2 metres away from each other but these small airborne particles they can travel much farther than that country. well of course if you are close to somebody somebody who is infectious and somebody who is a source of this mall particles smaller bigger but it goes of course in the proximity to the person you are likely to incur a lot and particles of all sizes smaller bigger bigger particles will potentially drop on the ground big enough but the smaller one will stay india will linger india like sink a boat smells cigarette smoke smoke of. some snow lingers in the particles from cigarette smoke are smaller than the particles we stick barrels but nevertheless develop spartacus can stay in the pour

a long time and travel long distances so it's not enough to be a way that meter and a half from somebody infected it can be. neat those tens of meters or even hundreds of meters away from the that that person were developed latent particles linger in the air and can be inhaled and smells are really a perfect way to explain how this works now people who oppose strict coronavirus measures argue that everything in life involves taking a risk how do you personally weigh up the odds of being infected versus say the need to maintain social contact and a relationship with the outside world. this is true that every of us think involves 3 states but the response in getting infected being in a place where people aren't poked at very high and i often say for example this kind of priests were related top car travel would you jump into the car if you all

had their risk of being in it being having an accident off if you burst send you would sink about this twice this can become per top day or east sweets we are taking or not or not taking so way no risk is. a risk which we don't quite understand can't quite quantify your really have to take all possible precautions to avoid taking this risk and i certainly wouldn't jump into that car professor maraca from the university of technology in prison thank you so much for your expertise thank you for having me on the program. time now to answer one of your questions by the coronavirus over to our science correspondent derrick williams. what's the expected protection period for a new m r n a vaccine how long does it need to be for herd immunity we don't yet know how long

these new vaccines will protect people who receive them because not enough time has passed since large numbers of people have received them trials have only been going on since the end of july we know that that when you catch other coronaviruses it provokes an immune response that lasts for anything from for months to a year or 2 both but we've never developed vaccines for those coronavirus so we don't really have anything to compare these new vaccines to or or a yardstick for guessing how long they might provide protection add to that the fact that if they do receive emergency use authorizations then it will be the 1st time that m r n a vaccines have ever seen widespread use and it all becomes even more of a guessing game but almost all of the experts i read do say they don't expect them to provide lifetime protection the question of how long the period of protection

needs to be to provide herd of unity is trickier because it could easily turn into a moving target the most estimates you read say we should have the situation under control when 60 to 70 percent of the population acquires immunity through through vaccination or sickness if one or more vaccines provoke wall lasting immunity to cope at 19 say say 10 years and that would be fantastic basically because it would give us the time we need to vaccinate large chunks of the population and trust that they wouldn't be in danger again for a. for a good long while but if that scene provoked immunity as much shorter say just 6 months or a year it makes the logistics of large scale vaccination programs a lot harder because in addition to trying to get everyone their 1st shot we'd have

to also start giving people who've gotten that booster shots in in pretty short order so a lot will hinge on the question of how long the various vaccine candidates protect people. and not follow from us for the latest on the pandemic go to g.w. dot com the flask covered 90 and until next time for me and the team if that by taking. into the conflict zone with tim sebastian. less than 3 months ago i would say my mommy collapsed from a current poisoning my guess this week or mosco is richest while he can on a member of president putin's party united russia. why is it that those who speak loudest of the russian opposition run the risk of mortal danger comes. to say. next on the.

world. to go beyond yes. good so we're live. as we take on the world. we're all about the story something that matter to you country. what ever it takes to run enough cut. it out w. made for mines. what's the secret behind this classic. music to say. as soon as you hear beethoven lose your mind. or the story behind the music.

for the teacher is reducing. the tobin's nights before the world starts to simmer down on w. . the fact that. you still think we are inferior why will the contradictory versions we are not saying. but we definitely be some people is that you are also part of the just me or russia or whatever i say it doesn't matter to you you just don't listen less than 3 months ago i looked same of on the current figurehead of the russian opposition from apparent poisoning on the flight between siberia and moscow german doctors who treated him later said he'd ingested the nerve agent not a check the kremlin as denied any involvement accusing.