Hello and welcome. We start with an apology from americas top Infectious Diseases expert Dr Anthony Fauci after he criticised uk regulators over their rapid approval of a new coronavirus vaccine. Britain on wednesday became the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer Biontech vaccine for mass use. Speaking earlier to cbs, dr fauci said the uk was not as rigorous as the us in its vaccine approval process. But when he spoke to my colleagues earlier on this channel, dr fauci backtracked. The point i was really trying to make, i did not make it well, which is why i welcome to the opportunity to get on your show and say it came out wrong. In the United States, there is such a considerable amount of tension of pushing back on the credibility of the safety and efficacy that if we in the United States had done it as quickly as the uk did it, and thats no judgement on the way uk did it, and even though my statement did come across looking that way, if we had a, for example, approved it
i had my first cancer diagnosed about six or seven years ago. that waiting time is very, very hard. i don t think until you have been through it, you can actually understand it. despite the walk out, some hospitals are able to continue with some routine operations, but it is a mixed picture. the full impact on cancellations will not be known for a few days. one thing we re seeing that is different from other strike days is that demand for care has been sustained. in previous strike days, we saw that drop. it means the nhs is trying to keep things going, it was already overstretched, but it has fewer resources at its disposal. the government says the bma s pay claim is completely unaffordable. it s urged officials to call off the strike and enter into pay talks along with other health unions in england, and help bring this ongoing dispute to an end. katharine da costa, bbc news. new employment figures showjob vacancies in the uk have fallen for the eighth time in a row. the of
good afternoon and welcome to bbc news. the bank of england has raised interest rates from 3.5 to li% their highest level since 2008. the increase will leave millions of households facing higher mortgages at a time when many people are already struggling with energy and food bills. it will also have an impact on repayment charges on bank loans and credit cards but it is better news for savers, who should get a higher return. the bank of england says the increase will help to curb rising prices. our economics correspondent andy verity reports. in leeds like every where else, the cost of keeping up a mortgage isjumping, because of interest rates. stu is used to saving after spending much of his life on a minimum wage. he got a better paying job as a librarian, but like many, his wages have stagnated. when his mortgage expired his payments went from £90 a month to £360. i thought the days of checking the bank balance were gone. but they re back with a vengeance now. it is
and woke up 1,000 miles from home. hello, i m katty kay in washington. christian fraser is in london. the domino effect is in full flow, first norway and denmark, then germany, france, and italy, and now spain. all of them suspending the use of the astrazeneca vaccine today until the european medicines agency has issued new guidance, which should come tomorrow. 17 million people have had the astrazeneca jab in the uk and europe and there have been 37 reports of blood clots. but scientists say you would expect that number in that many people even without the vaccine. halting a vaccine roll out during a pandemic has consequences particularly when most of the countries in europe are seeing a steady rise in new cases. there were already issues surrounding the astrazeneca jab with some in europe refusing to take it. this will further complicate the roll out. tonight, the ema says it believes the benefits of the astrazensca jab in stopping deaths and hospitalisations outweigh a