it s something that we waited for for a long time. reporter: dr. alexis thompson was part of a clinical trial for this gene therapy. is our health insurance system set up to cover a huge one-time cost like this? i anticipate having to grapple with this because i believe this will be the first of many breaks that are coming down the pike fairly quickly. reporter: the maker of zynteglo bill s it as a cost saver and says traditional treatment for the rare disease can cost $6.4 million over a patient s lifetime. the drug is less than half that. it does not save money. when you pay a whole lot of money up front, that s money you don t have to invest and use for other things, and it is not cost savings. reporter: the barrons are already used to sticker shock and are now considering the new gene therapy. when does insurance kick in for you? so we have a 2b/ñ $10,000 deductible, and our deductible is met by january 5. reporter: now with the gene therapy
opportunity for all those families to see opportunity for all those families to see some sort ofjustice being done done. nick beake, for done. nick beake, for now, thank you. done. nick beake, for now, thank you. nick will be covering that trial for bbc news. hundreds of thousands of people who are at risk of becoming seriously ill if they contract covid 19, have still not had their booster jabs. that s the warning from nhs leaders who say, although more than two thirds of those with a weakened immune system have been vaccinated so far, others may not be aware they are eligible for a top up this winter. pregnant women can have the booster, along with people with a learning disability or severe mental illness. people who have blood cancer, diabetes, epilepsy and asthma are also eligible. those aged over 50 can also qualify along with health and social care workers. in total around 6.4 million people are eligible due to medical conditions. we re joined now by dr helen wall.
walker s $6.4 million. take a listen to what georgians are seeing on television. so i ve been telling this little story about this bull out in the field. what on earth? and three of them are pregnant. there is no substance. there s nothing. so you know you ve got something going on. reporter: so in terms of those voting numbers we saw about 80,000 voters come out on saturday and even more on sunday excuse me, we had about 80,000 voters come out on saturday and about 90,000 voters come out on sunday. so a lot of enthusiasm here on the ground, jim. we will see how that plays out in the final numbers. eva mckend, thanks so much. president biden is back at the white house this morning, hoping congress can push through some of his priorities before republicans take over the house next month. on the list a government funding bill raising the debt ceiling,
are dying. of course, i know it is dangerous, but as an officer i have got to be here. this is my sacred duty. got to be here. this is my sacred du . , , . ~ got to be here. this is my sacred du . , , . ,, ., , got to be here. this is my sacred du. ,, duty. this year, like millions of others, duty. this year, like millions of others. they duty. this year, like millions of others, they will duty. this year, like millions of others, they will mark - duty. this year, like millions of others, they will mark nationalj duty. this year, like millions of - others, they will mark national day as exiles, ukraine s parks are empty and the celebrations have been silenced. it is a muted national date but six months into this war, because of ukrainian independence has never rung so far and so loudly. quentin somerville, bbc news, in southern ukraine. as we heard from quentin there, luliia is one of tens of thousands of ukrainian refugees who have fled to the uk since the russian invasion. more
and without weeks of rain, the drought could last into the winter. angus crawford, bbc news. let s return to our main story this evening, as we mark six months since the start of the war in ukraine. tens of thousands of ukrainian refugees have fled to the uk since the russian invasion. more than 6.4 million have escaped to europe so far and you can see here where they ve gone. more than 100,000 are here in the uk under the government s homes for ukraine scheme. poland has taken in more than ten times that figure 1.2 million. our midlands correspondent phil mackie has been to meet a ukrainian family living in leicestershire. six months ago, we didn t expect such a big turn in our life. their heart is still in ukraine, but for yana and her sons igor and ilya, for the foreseeable future, home will be in hinkley in leicestershire.