— is she in for the long haul, or is she plotting a future without donald trump? we will speak to the biographer who thinks she knows. hello, i'm christian fraser in london. laura trevelyan is in washington. so it's now two weeks and counting since the presidential elections, and donald trump is still nowhere near conceding victory tojoe biden. in a series of tweets today, he's still complaining about voter fraud, still declaring he won the election. the trump campaign has put some of its money where its mouth is, stumping up $3 million for a partial recount in two heavily—democratic areas of wisconsin. mr trump trailsjoe biden byjust over 20,000 votes in the state. a new opinion poll suggests 61% of republicans are not confident in the fairness of the election. 0ur correspondent aleem maqbool has been to the panhandle of florida, tojudge the mood of the president's supporters. cheering veterans for trump and america! it's not over! the whole world is watching us! right now they're watching us to see if we have a democracy! in the trump—supporting heartlands, they're keeping the faith — and almost daily taking their passion for their president to the streets, in sheer disbelief he could possibly have lost. there is more people for donald trump. and you can see that through donald trump's rallies that he's had. the amount of people who showed for those, versus joe biden rallies is a huge difference. thousands and thousands of people difference. in the rural south, it's sometimes hard even to imagine a world outside where donald trump is loathed. what you hear is that he fought for real americans — people just like them. well, there are parts of this country that felt forgotten before donald trump who feel he represented them, and feel they will be forgotten again once he's gone — which is part of the reason they're clinging onto the hope that he'll stay in office. and so, everywhere you go, they'll repeat the conspiracy theories about how the election was stolen. i think the majority of it is a lie, because ballots were brought in unnoticed in the back rooms, through the back doors. people that have died years ago are still voting. # in america # in the divided states of america... through his music, jim white has chronicled the culture of the south and of his country — one he now says is riddled with the kind of division no president can cure. he says discussion about civil war is commonplace. it's not a possibility, it's happening. it's happening. it is a virtual civil war. people are turning against each other, you know, brother against brother. i talk to people who go to family reunions — they can't talk to half their family, they can't talk to them. they stop going to family reunions because they could not bear to be around such hateful rhetoric, as trump puts forward. beyond the smiles, many told us they'd never accept the selection was anything but rigged. the history of the south tells us when people feel — rightly or wrongly — they're being silenced, they will fight back. aleem maqbool, bbc news, in the florida panhandle. let's bring in our correspondent anthony zurcher, who's in washington. so trump's supporters clearly believe the election was rigged, but is he running out of time to prove that it was? he is. there are certain hard deadlines that will be coming up very soon that will make it all but impossible for donald trump to challenge his election. states across the country are certifying their election results, and on 14 december the electoral couege and on 14 december the electoral college of electors will gather in state capitals to cast their votes. and injanuary, state capitals to cast their votes. and in january, us state capitals to cast their votes. and injanuary, us congress will certify those votes. so while donald trump and his lawyers will continue to talk about widespread voter fraud, as long as they are not presenting of any evidence in these courts of the widespread voter fraud that would overturn the election results in these key swing states, it is only a matter of time before it is only a matter of time before it becomes clear, even to trump supporters the joe biden will be inaugurated on 20 january. anthony, you've been the reporter with the biden transition team. what's their mood there as they see trump digging in? i think you can see from joe biden on down, they are becoming increasingly frustrated by donald trump's reluctance to concede defeat. joe biden on multiple occasions when i was following him around this week, talking about how he hadn't been getting the maker given access, government officials had been giving presidential briefing teams, sink he can't find out plans for vaccinations, find out about the inside numbers on what's happening with coronavirus. that could be leading to more american deaths. they want to be able to hit the ground running on 20 january to make sure the vaccine is rolled out, and joe biden's been saying the lack of cooperation from the administration is hampering those efforts. so i think you see increasingly with the transition team angerat increasingly with the transition team anger at donald trump for these delays of. can we talk about some of these court cases? because there was rudy giuliani yesterday in pennsylvania before the judge arguing about two republican voters that had been prevented from correcting their absentee ballots. they were from right—leaning counties in pennsylvania. and this was the reaction from the judge. he said,... and that really is the point. the case of two individual voters is entirely valid and legitimate — but it doesn't prove wholesale fraud. no, it doesn't, and even in this case you're talking about two voters and republican leaning counties that we re and republican leaning counties that were not give the chance to correct mistakes. that's a county decision, and in emma craddick controlled counties, they allowed voters to cure their ballots, but that was a decision made on the county level. as you mentioned these were isolated incidents that trump's legal team we re incidents that trump's legal team were trying to use to overturn the entire election results. up in pennsylvania, biden is up by 74,000 votes. so the idea of the small bore allegations that trump's team is bringing up in places like wisconsin, nevada and georgia could be used to overturn these massive deficits — right now there is no evidence they could be doing that. and the bar for fraud in these cases is very high. i don't think you'll find manyjudges who are willing to let these sorts of complaints proceed to the point where they might actually be overturned on their merits. before you go, i have to ask you about the biden pool. how does it compare? is it more sedate than the trump pool? much more sedate. i was with donald trump in the run—up to the election, travelling to multiple states holding rallies, donald trump was talking to the press and the public time and time again. joe biden has one press event a day, answering questions from the press on monday. though i think the interesting contrast was on monday, we followed joe biden to go to catholic mass. i followed trump on sunday mornings, and he goes to play golf. laura wa nts to and he goes to play golf. laura wants to know if you have any of those biden aviators?|j wants to know if you have any of those biden aviators? i had them in high school, i don't think i've replaced them. that was definitely my high school look. anthony, good to talk to. does he have the biden convertible? more on that later. the coronavirus vaccine developed by pfizer and biontech is 95% effective, even in older people, according to new data. the findings are based on two doses given to more than 41,000 people around the world. with those safety checks now passed, pfizer says the vaccine is ready for approval by the authorities around the world — as our medical editor fergus walsh reports. yet more good news on vaccines. last week, pfizer—biontech were the first to show their vaccine protected against covid. now we have more detail. pfizer says the vaccine is more than 94% effective among the over—65s, and showed the same consistent protection among volunteers from different ethnicities. there were 160 cases of covid—19 across more than 40,000 volunteers — 162 of those were among the volunteers who got dummy or placebo jabs, and only eight in the vaccinated group. there were no serious safety concerns, but a small minority of volunteers suffered significant headaches orfatigue. i think this is good news, and also it's very encouraging that the vaccine seems to show equal protection in elderly people. because that was a question we couldn't answer after the first announcement last week. 0ur immune system usually declines as we age, so it's highly significant that the vaccine protects the elderly who are most at risk from covid. they should be first in line to get the jab — which requires two doses a month apart. booster doses may be needed, as we don't know how long protection lasts. vaccinators will go into care homes to immunise vulnerable older residents. gp surgeries will play a crucial role — some could be open seven days a week. and large venues like sport halls will be used for mass immunisation. the pfizer vaccine has to be stored at —70 celsius, which creates some logistical problems. but it remains usable for a few days in a normalfridge. it's thought regulators could approve the vaccine by early december. the uk has bought 40 million doses — but most of these will arrive next year. nonetheless, it seems increasingly likely that some covid immunisation will begin before christmas. fergus walsh, bbc news. the best christmas present we could get. we're going to speak to dr anthony fauci later in the programme. we will get his thoughts on the vaccine breakthrough. do stay with us for that. but first, let's turn to some of the day's other news. schools in new york city will close temporarily on thursday, eight weeks after they reopened. 0fficials fear that a second wave of coronavirus has arrived in the city. pupils will be schooled remotely. new york city is the largest school district in the us with 1.1 million students. britain's prime minister says new cars and vans powered wholly by petrol or diesel will not be sold in the uk from 2030. it's part of what borisjohnson calls a "green industrial revolution" to tackle climate change and createjobs in industries including nuclear energy. the bbc has announced that the senior peer lord dyson will head an independent investigation into how panorama secured an interview with princess diana in 1995. her brother, earl spencer, has accused the corporation of using fake documents to persuade her to take part. the bbc says it's determined to "get to the truth". saudi arabia's first women's football league has begun, after being postponed because of covid—19. more than 600 players from 24 teams are competing for a championship cup. women were first allowed to watch football matches in stadiums in the gulf kingdom just two years ago. safety regulators in the us have cleared boeing's 737 max plane to fly again, lifting the grounding orders that were put in place after two deadly crashes. it's an important milestone for boeing, plunged into crisis by the tragedies and ensuing investigations. the question is, whether passengers will feel safe to fly again? our business correspondent samira hussein joins us from new york. there's plenty of competition from airbus, and not the best time to be shifting those planes that still have to find customers? and i think you're ultimately right. the people who will make this decision about whether these planes are safe enough to fly again is the flying public. yes, the american regulators have cleared the plane to fly, but it will still be a little while before you see these 737 max jets in the air. they still need to approve the new training that all pilots will have to undergo in order to be able to fly these planes, and it'll take a while for the planes to actually be retrofitted with some of the new technology, the upgrades they need in orderto technology, the upgrades they need in order to fly safely and according to the regulations set out by the aviation regulators here. so in terms of some airlines, they probably won't see them in operation until the end of this year or well into next year. of course it's about trust, and there's not a lot of trust, and there's not a lot of trust at the moment in the regulators in america. do global authorities follow suit and certify the plane? so global authorities have long been saying they will go through their own processes to try and approve these planes. so if you look at it geographically, canada is the closest country and would be one of the most important countries to approve this because of the proximity of the two, and just how much of a shared airspace there is. next comes the european authorities, who also have said they will go through their own judgement and their own testing in order to make sure they meet the requirements. that said, the aviation authorities here in the us on a conference call earlier did say they had been working very closely with these international aviation authorities, and they do believe that we probably will see them make the same approval shortly, although he didn't want to speak for them. is boeing still facing lawsuits from families and those killed in the crashes? boeing is still facing lots of lawsuits. we've even heard from some of the people who have lost loved ones on those planes — they have been advocating that these planes are not safe to fly and to get more information that they haven't been able to reach, and they haven't been able to reach, and they haven't been able to reach, and they haven't been able to get enough answers from boeing. so boeing is certainly suffering a big reputational damage. getting over this one hurdle to get these planes back up in the air is certainly one obstacle that they have come over, but there is still a lot of work to do. samir hussein, thank you very much for that detail. for those watching on bbc world news — we'll be right back. the uk opposition party leader, sir keir starmer, says former leader jeremy corbyn will not be allowed to sit as a labour mp. he was reinstated as a member of the party yesterday after being suspended after saying that the scale of anti—semitism in the party had been "overstated". here's our political correspondent helen catt. as you can imagine, a pretty furious reaction from some of those mps and allies ofjeremy corbyn who, as you explained there, yesterday a disciplinary panel decided he could be readmitted to the labour party as a member, but that doesn't automatically mean he can represent labour in parliament. that decision rests with us or keir starmer who this morning said that he would not be restoring the whip, as the official phrase is known. he said that that was because jeremy corbyn's actions, in response to a report on anti—jewish hate, had set back our work and restoring trust and confidence in the labour party's ability to tackle anti—semitism. he said he would keep the situation under review. the white house is like a fish bowl — the first family on display for the entire world. this president has revelled in it, his children have taken starring roles. but melania? she's an enigma. maybe following the example of the late queen mother, who once said her role was "never to complain, never to explain." at least not in public. in melania's case, it was her style that did the talking — poised, elegant, just occasionally letting us know what she really thought. and then there were those moments when she quite publically pulled her hand from the grip of the president. rich pickings for the gossip columns. and today, the bookies are offering some pretty short odds that the first couple are heading for divorce. maryjodan is the author of "the art of her deal: the inside story of melania trump". i've just looked, actually, i'vejust looked, actually, mary, and they are offering all odds — for one that melania files for divorce before the end of next year. i'm not sure, because i watched around the campaign and she was the prime tub thumperfor campaign and she was the prime tub thumper for donald trump. you know, the public has long, especially in america, there's cartoons, memes, comic strips, everybody saying that she will be on the hit tv show the bachelorette, that as soon as she's out of the white house, she's out of the marriage. but when i was talking to people— she has a very tight circle, they don't think so. she has created a life for herself when she arrived from slovenia at the age of 26. and nobody knew who she was — the very first time she showed up in the very first time she showed up in the press, her name —— it was because she was donald trump is my girlfriend. and everyone i'm talking to the white house, they do have a bond. what do you make of the analogy that laura just drew, this idea that the queen mum had about how she would run it, that you don't really get a look into the private life? she was very discreet about it. i think melania has very much been like that, hasn't she?|j been like that, hasn't she?” couldn't agree more, i thought it was perfect. she's different from laura bush or michelle 0bama, or certainly hillary clinton. she could clear all of this up. people said, "do you even like your husband?" sometimes she appears like an ice queen and is tortured by even standing next to him. if that were true, all she has to do is step up to the mic and say she adores this quy~ to the mic and say she adores this guy. sorry to interrupt, we've seen this picture where she does pull her hand away from his, and that's what sent the tongues wagging.” hand away from his, and that's what sent the tongues wagging. i talked to the protocol guy who was there on the scene, and he said, "here's this former model trained in yugoslavia than milan, and she was told that they weren't going to hold hands." then he breaks craft. of course, everything donald trump does is breaking script. very different from melania who was told, "working to step out of the plane, you're going to do this." that's what they say it is. at times, i know they've also had a really big ups and downs in their marriage. she's been furious at very, very detailed reports of his infidelities. and that adds to the intrigue. then she disappeared for weeks at a time and doesn't say where she is. you know, melania, i believe has purposely created this enigma brand. it's very interesting. so she steps away back into the shadows and has people asking questions. such as, mary, is it true that she negotiated a massive prenup before she would leave new york for the white house? i talked to three different people who said absolutely yes. they said that melania has read donald trump's book, the art of the deal, where he said, "if you want to have a deal, get leverage." she waited until the perfect moment when he needed her as first lady, you know? and she went in and said, "hey, we got married in 2005, and a lot has changed. and you want me at your side as political spouse? you have to sit down and give me more." and she got it. and a devoted mother and daughter, isn't she?” and she got it. and a devoted mother and daughter, isn't she? i think that's her number, her main thing. they call her at the white house the protector of baron, who's14. her whole day, her whole life revolves around him, heronly whole day, her whole life revolves around him, her only child, and her closest friend is her mother who was a former factory worker in yugoslavia, and was very well liked by pretty much everybody. her mother and father are at the white house. you never see them, but those are the people that with in the private quarters. she eats dinner, lunch and breakfast with them far more than with her husband. i was thinking after the that stormy daniels date, her gait, there was lots to forgive. but hillary forgave bill, so there is precedent. there is precedent. what you think they will do? will they go back to new york with mike we we re they go back to new york with mike we were talking yesterday on the programme that we weren't entirely sure that the family would be welcome back in new york. 0r sure that the family would be welcome back in new york. or do you think their heart really is in florida? baron still has half of the school year to go through. melania will be wherever he is. but because of covid—19, he can do it anywhere, it is remote. so they are expecting to be in florida for the near future will stop for one thing, it is the winter, it's warm — but the big thing is it's pretty frosty in new york. when joe biden thing is it's pretty frosty in new york. whenjoe biden one, there was i'io york. whenjoe biden one, there was no city on earth where more people poured out onto the street, ecstatic and screaming that finally trump was gone. and there he is in trump tower in the centre of new york. so it will be much more welcoming in new york. much more warm in january, too. merry, great to talk to. so reportedly the uk government has a plan for christmas. they are going to shorten the advent calendar and they are going to give us five "golden" days to spend with the family, free from lockdown. i had lobbied forjust one, but you can't win ‘em all. ididn't i didn't really my mother—in—law might be watching. anyway, it means we are likely to get some reward for the hard slog of lockdown. which is rather ironic since over there, you have gone full bob cratchitt. we most certainly have! what a different picture it is here for christmas and thanksgiving. the governors and the mayors are ratcheting up the restrictions. it's miserable, i've had to cancel my thanksgiving. of course, we have not had the full lockdown, and the fear now — as we battle with record infection — is that several days travelling, time indoors eating food will further exacerbate the problem. and the schools. their coming home early in new york. 0h and the schools. their coming home early in new york. oh my gosh, christian. in new york, for example, where i live, governor andrew cuomo has passed an executive order limiting the number at thanksgiving gatherings to ten — which is hardly a rule of six. i've been watching the stock price, he's been going down. it's going to back up in the next few weeks, eve ryo ne back up in the next few weeks, everyone will be doing zouma schooling. this doctor we're going to speak to will do it in his garage this year. his parents will be at the other side of the table, at the other end of the garage, and he's going to serve them from indoors. is that how you'll do it? oh my gosh. still to come: the top us infectious disease expert, dr anthony fauci, joins us live to discuss the rocky road ahead, and the race to get vaccines out as quickly as possible. good evening. we're in for a brief colder snap of weather through tonight and tomorrow. it's a change in wind direction. we've had this milder atlantic south—westerly where exchanging that through the night for a much colder northerly blast of arctic air. with our south—westerly, we've had quite a bit of rain through the day, that will drag its heels eventually clearing southern and eastern areas, heavy showers falling behind. but look how it turns to snow over the hills and mountains of scotland as that colder air digs in. it could well turn notjust a bit wintry of the hills here, but a little icy as well with temperatures dropping close to freezing, particularly in the glens and the valleys. for the south, temperatures holding up because the strength of the wind, but a colder night than last night and lots showers initially. and that northerly wind is for the day tomorrow, but it's a brief colder snap because, although we are bringing a ridge of high pressure and more subtle weather alternates to look at the next atlantic set of weather fronts to bring in some cloudier skies once again. still those strong winds through the night, gale force transferring the strongest to eastern area through tomorrow morning with lots of wintry showers still coming down over the hills of scotland. showers elsewhere, potentially some heavy with hail and thunder, but tending to ease in intensity and infrequency as we go through the day to allow sunnier skies to prevail for most. but it won't help our temperatures. 0ur temperatures thermometer measuring from four to 10 celsius — well down on those of today. and if you enter the effect of the wind in particular the morning will exacerbate the chill. really feeling it across scotland in particular and parts of northern ireland and northern england. as i say, it's a real cold snap because by the time we get to friday we are you to see our weather fronts of the atlantic again to the west or southwest winds, cloudier skies bringing some rain. this with a friend working its way south through saturday and sunday — probably not producing that much rain, but still a lot of cloud. and as our next weather front concert through thursday night into friday will see a smattering of snow initially of the hills north of scotland because the cold air‘s still with us. looks fairly wet for many parts of mainland uk, and northern ireland drying up the later on but staying probably quite cloudy and feeling damp and cold because we've got all that cloud around. that weather front is a weakening feature as it heads southwards on saturday, clearing the south eventually on sunday. the warnings are online. you're watching bbc news with me laura trevelyan in washington, christian fraser is in london. our top stories: as there's more positive news today about the vaccines it is hoped might halt the rampage of covid—19, we'll dedicate the rest of this programme to asking the experts questions about the vaccination breakthrough. the us has seen its deadliest day in six months. president trump remains largely silent, so america turns to doctor anthony fauci for honest insight on the dangers ahead. we'll be talking to him live injust a moment. injust over two months, it will be the biden administration who will have to handle the pandemic. we'll speak to dr atul gawande, who's part ofjoe biden's covid task force. and as england approaches the halfway point of its second lockdown — we'll look at how lifting it in december needs to be handled. it's been nearly a year since the first cases of covid—19 were detected in hubei province, china. and in that time the virus has killed 1.3 million people and the global economy is expected to shrink by 5%, bringing untold misery around the world. doctors say the light at the end of the tunnel will be a vaccine. early studies from pfizer and moderna show their vaccines are highly effective against the virus — and they're waiting for the green light from regulators in the us and the eu to starting rolling out the doses. but experts say most of us won't get a coronavirus vaccine until the spring. and right now the number of americans in hospital with covid—19 is higher than at any other time in the pandemic. today the us has inched ever closer to its next grim milestone — nearly a quarter of a million people here have died from covid. as the fall turns to winter, with temperatures falling and people huddling indoors, the latest surge is projected to kill many thousands more. we're going to spend the next 30 minutes of this programme focusing on the race for a vaccine and some of the key issues with three very important experts. first among them, someone you will be familiar with, with dr anthony fauci. doctor fauci, a great pleasure to have you on the programme. we have waited a long time but we know you are busy. welcome. let's talk about yesterday. the deadliest day of the pandemic and six months. there were more than 1500 debts yesterday. what we sometimes forget is that the death rate we're looking at is a picture retrospectively aware we we re picture retrospectively aware we were three weeks ago so i will put on the screen with the new daily cases were three weeks ago just under 80,000. and what they are today,. just over 150,000. so what does that tell us where we are going in the next three weeks? we are going obviously in the wrong direction. at a very precarious time. as wasjust direction. at a very precarious time. as was just mentioned, direction. at a very precarious time. as wasjust mentioned, as direction. at a very precarious time. as was just mentioned, as we get deeper into the cooler months of the late fall in the colder months of the winter. a very serious situation because there are lagging indicators, for example when you see cases in a couple weeks later to see hospitalization and if few weeks later, you see deaths. so you see the massive increase in cases that we are seeing the massive increase in cases that we are seeing now, the massive increase in cases that we are seeing now, particularly as more and more people are doing things indoors which we know makes the risk even greater, for surges, we are in a very difficult situation. we have to turn this around. you mentioned appropriately, that there is light at the end of the tunnel, and that we have at least two and likely more effective vaccines but we have to get people in the united states and i'm sure in the rest of the world including the uk to continue to double down and some of the fundamental public health measures that we know work in mitigating against these type of surges. the universal wearing a mask, the physical distance and avoiding congregates credit sessions, particularly indoors, doing things outdoors, prep indoors. washing hands without a sound so simple and we know they can work. but there is a degree of what we are referring to, you have it in the uk also come of covid—19 fatigue, that people just are worn out with these kinds of restrictions. we have to get them to hang in there, a bit longer, because help is on the way. and vaccines are coming from and they will be extremely helpful in our endeavour. i want to talk plenty about the vaccine but i have to address the politics. it is the elephant in the room. i know it is very difficult for you at the moment but the picture you just painted them if death count is going to double, it is an uncomfortable comparison but are talking about one 911 every single day. we are in a conflict like that, in the commander—in—chief have to lead from the front and should be leading from the front and should be leading from the front and should be leading from the front now. given that he is not talking to you, you are not allowed to talk to the incoming president elect, at what point do you say enough? well, what i am doing, and some of my colleagues are come as much as we possibly can to being the voice of what needs to be done. and thatis voice of what needs to be done. and that is why i'm here with you, that is why been doing this all day and went to get that message out. you do what you can do with what you have, this is what we have and this is what we're trying to do. we are trying to get the message out to him on the one hand, the other hand we are working very hard to get those vaccines deployed so people can start benefiting from them. dr factory, before we talk more about the vaccine come here in the us next week of course is the thanksgiving holiday. —— dr fauci. 1500 americans will be on the move. we have a map here, showing you go to a dinner with him people, the average risk of running into somebody with coronavirus is just under 14%. running into somebody with coronavirus isjust under 14%. —— 15 million americans would you revise americans to rethink their plan next week? thank you for asking that question. this is what i have been doing over the past week, to ten days, just that asking the people in the united states to do a risk—benefit discussion and analysis and evaluation, particularly looking in your own and evaluation, particularly looking in yourown family and evaluation, particularly looking in your own family circle, if you have individuals who are elderly, or underlying conditions, that would make them at a higher risk for a serious outcome, just ask yourself, at this time, is it really worth having an accumulation of people that would be coming from different parts of the country going through a crowded airport, on aeroplanes, coming into your home where you have ten, 15, 20 people, where as you said it dramatically increases the risk? and since we know that transmission occurs when people are not symptomatic, somebody will come in innocently and inadvertently thinking everything is all right, are with family and friends, you tend to put your guard down, that becomes risky. as much as it seems difficult, which it is, you might wa nt to difficult, which it is, you might want to reconsider if you in that category. each individual family will be different. we that. everybody has their own ability or not to accept the risk and different people have different viewpoints about relative risk. i can tell you in my own family, when i had done, it was even out of my hands, i have three adult professional women daughters. they are in different parts of the country. that would require coming by plane on a long trip. they are very reluctant to do that as much as they want to see me andi that as much as they want to see me and i adore them come and want to see them, they feel it is just not worth it right now. so what we will do, my wife and i, we will have a quiet dinner at home and we will resume with the kids and spent an hour or more chatting and sharing a glass of wine or something like that. —— zoom with the kids. that is our decision. not everybody needs to make that decision but we did a risk—benefit analysis and my daughters felt that given my age, i'm ina daughters felt that given my age, i'm in a high risk group, they don't wa nt to i'm in a high risk group, they don't want to put me to that risk. and i'm actually quite proud of them for that decision. very wise. let's talk about the vaccine. the two of them. if the food and drug administration here in the united states gives emergency use authorisation, how soon until health—ca re emergency use authorisation, how soon until health—care workers get it here in america, and how soon till the rest of us get it? the plan is that hopefully by the it of december, the first tier of people come and that is going to be the recommendation of our centers for disease control and prevention, our cdc, who get advice to additionally from an advisory committee. —— the end of december. plus also weighing in with the national cabinet of medicine. i don't know what their decision is yet but almost certainly it will include health care workers in the first tier. but i will leave that decision to them. by the end of december, will start getting vaccinated and going through january, february march and april, we hope that we get the people of the higher priority through so that by the time you get to the end of april come and go into the spring april, may, june, you can get the bulk of the people who are not in any of those priorities, they 25—year—old woman who has no but underlying condition but want to get vaccinated. getting into the second quarter hopefully of 2021, we will have those people vaccinated. the conventional approach is to vaccinate as she saved be vulnerable and the elderly because they face greater risk. some people asked shouldn't we be vaccinating younger people who are going to drive the economy and go out tojim the restau ra nts a nd economy and go out tojim the restaurants and get business going again. i say the priority? you know, they are a priority but remember, those are the people who very likely come if and when they get infected, while either have no symptoms because 40% of the people we get affected have no symptoms, or those are people who will have a very mild course and get back into the society at into building the economy. so what you want to do is prevent people from getting serious disease and death. and that is when you talk about the elderly and those with the underlying conditions. there is data thatis underlying conditions. there is data that is showing the new strains of the virus are making it more contagious in the vaccine company sellers we don't need to worry about that for now. but i limitations where lethal and candies vaccine be adapted such as the flu vaccine is adaptive year to year? —— lethal or contagious. likely, that is for sure. but as you have said, limitations, this is an rna virus, that mutates all the question is that mutates all the question is that the mutation have any functional significance. —— that mutates all the time. when of the mutations, and amino acid, the 164 position, seems to make it more but certainly not more burial and certainly not more burial and certainly not more deadly. at least in some models it looks like it has the mechanism of being more transmissible. whether that spells out at a cohort level remains to be seen. out at a cohort level remains to be seen. when you look at where the mutation is, it does not seem to impact the effect of a vaccine that induces an antibody against the particular part of the virus that is not impacted by this particular mutation. so the people who are saying, myself included, that it is not going to impact at this time the vaccine, there is good scientific evidence to indicate that is the case. one last question before i let you go, again, the politics, the president fired a very senior civil servant today at the dhs for defying the election. do you where you might be next? by spelling out the seriousness of the pandemic? —— do you worry? i hope not. i don't think so. you worry? i hope not. i don't think so. i have and have had over the period of time a good relationship with the president of the united states. i don't think that will happen. i hope not. iwill states. i don't think that will happen. i hope not. i will keep doing myjob that i've been doing for a very long period of time. i will focus on what is the head and what will be challenged with.” think i'm both sides of the electorate we recognise that very good job you are doing. thank you for sparing that sometime today we are so for sparing that sometime today we are so busy. dr anthony fauci, thank you. thank you for having me. in his presidential campaign joe biden promised a vaccine would be free for everyone in the us if he was elected. now he's preparing to take office — he's appointed 13 scientists to a new board to advise him on how to contain infections and manage vaccine distribution. one member of president—elect biden's covid—19 advisory board is the surgeon dr atul gawande — he joins us from boston. thank you so much for being with us. just tell us, are you getting any access at all to information about these vaccines and how they will be distributed? no. the chance to hear drfactor this way distributed? no. the chance to hear dr factor this way with about the only way we get to talk to dr fauci and the rest of the coronavirus team. —— dr anthony and the rest of the coronavirus team. —— dranthony fauci. and and the rest of the coronavirus team. —— dr anthony fauci. and that isa team. —— dr anthony fauci. and that is a problem. there are some vital information from what the status is of the vaccine distribution plans, how they will prioritise, which groups get a first, which ones don't. what the bottom production is committed not to mention that we have enough syringes and needles for vaccinated, that we have gloves, masks, many things that we know they are working on, and wejust masks, many things that we know they are working on, and we just don't know the state of readiness and what the transition will have to pick up comejanuary the transition will have to pick up come january 20. that is extraordinary. you're on constraint after dr anthony fauci, we have the technology to put you together but we can't do that because the rules say you can't beat to be together in the midst of a pandemic. that is ridiculous. it is ridiculous. we have a new president elect. even if every last certification has to come through the provisions allow for transition to happen immediately upon apparent president elect to be put in and this is in the national interest is not the international interest is not the international interest as well to be able to start planning together and make sure there is no hitches. it could cost lives. not having any kind of property transition. to your point about who gets the vaccine, we have been talking to dr helene gayle, chair of the national academy committee on vaccine distribution. here is what she had to say about who should get it first. we say there should be greater priority given to areas high on the social vulnerability index. in other words, communities where there is unemployment, that are more likely to be communities of colour, where there is more likely to be overcrowded housing. all of the things that put communities of colour at greater risk to this virus in this pandemic. dr gawande, who will get the vaccine first under a joe biden administration? well that include communities of colour who are at risk? absolutely it would include at risk? absolutely it would include at risk amenities, including iris committed to the colour. ultimately, it is that there's a cdc advisory committee on immunisation practices thatis committee on immunisation practices that is typically the ones that has the expertise and decision—making to bring the recommendation forward, presumably this a ministration has already got priorities in place, dr gales, who you spoke to earlier, if the head of a national academy of scientists and medicine expert panel that has made recommendations to get to first responders and health care workers first, to nursing homes residents next, and on down the risk level and the rest of the health ca re system. level and the rest of the health care system. but we don't have information, in fact i talked to state and city public health officials, they haven't been communicated what the prioritisation from the a ministration is intended to be. communication is clearly going to be key. but there is one half of america that is not listening to the public health advice. when of the criticisms of the task force you are on, the coalbed advisory board, it doesn't have republicans on it. i don't have economists on it. it is to have credibility with one side of the country who quite clearly are not listening to people like you. two things. number one, this is a group of doctors and scientists and you clearly need more than just that. you need to and the transition is well aware of bringing everybody from nurses to business to all of the logistics people who are needed to help you with the supply chain. but i think the larger picture here, i want to press on the point here, it really isn't divided by half, ta ke it really isn't divided by half, take for example mass wearing, which give so much of the attention it is very important, the relative 8% of americans support mass wearing and are wearing mask and 74% of republicans are. that's 80% of americans support mass cori. there isa americans support mass cori. there is a large minority that pushes back but i want to be careful to indicate that we do not need to politicize this. communication from the top in our country is politicize that but that will change and whether it is you're up for the united states, we have seen very high rates of transmissions that require addressing the issue dr anthony fauci talked about, how we behave at home. and is really in the small gatherings that is meant a major driver. keeping this affection moving. it is moving just as rapidly in your in the uk as it is in the united states. indeed it is. dr gawande, good to have you on. best of luck to your work. so what about the picture here in england — we are coming to the halfway point of the four—week closure of pubs, restaurants, gyms, nonessential shops. but the next two weeks will be critical if england's lockdown is to end as planned on the second december. the latest government figures give some indication that it's beginning to have an effect. there were 19,609 new coronavirus infections recorded in the latest 24—hour period. that's lower than the average number of cases over the last week — 24,802. the number of people in hospital is still rising — but remember there is a lag — some 1,700 people have been admitted on average each day and yesterday there were 529 deaths reported, people who died within 28 days of a positive covid—19 test. when the uk government imposed the first nationwide lockdown eight months ago — it was because downing street had seen the projections that half a million britons could die if the government didn't act. that model was work of professor neil ferguson, epidemiologist at imperial college london. and he is with us. good to see you. you are the man who knows the statistics better than anybody probably. do you think the current lockdown is working? it is certainly slowing the spread. the spread started to slow in the northwest of the country and to some extent the northeast even before lockdown came in with the tier 3 measures which we re in with the tier 3 measures which were not too dissimilar. i think the keyissueis were not too dissimilar. i think the key issue is how much will transmission the client in the coming only two weeks we have left. i sat on the day it was announced that my estimate was we might see a 20 to 50% decline in case numbers and the prevalence of infection and population. i think i will about the right broadcast but won't be able to really resolve the issue of how well it has worked for another week or so. it has worked for another week or so. we are not going to see the same rate of the client of the epidemic. backin rate of the client of the epidemic. back in march though. we still have schools often and social bubbles. —— the decline of the epidemic. the reduction isn't as great as it was then. we'll looking at mathematical models, is it possible to plug into that the vaccine, and how quickly and how widely that it is taken up? we are doing exactly that at the moment. along with a multiple other groups across the country. to inform government planning. yes, looking at first about prioritisation of vaccine, you will be aware that the joint committee for vaccines and immunisation has set up a a priority list for vaccination. immunisation has set up a a priority list forvaccination. similarto immunisation has set up a a priority list for vaccination. similar to the one you just heard from the us. targeting particular care home residents, workers, health care workers, first and going down to the age groups and the population. it is likely we will be rolling out on a similar timescale to the united states as well. hopefully the most vulnerable groups will be vaccinated in the next two to three months. then moving to the wider population. we are very much looking at how to keep control of the virus while that is happening. 0ne keep control of the virus while that is happening. one thing we cannot do, everybody says this, is relaxed immediately. and start vaccinating. even under optimistic predictions the way we vaccinate two or 3 million people a week, it will still ta ke million people a week, it will still take months and months to get on top of transmission and reduce the risk of transmission and reduce the risk of population. do you have concerns about how the vaccine that will be distributed globally? yes. i think the situation globally is much harder. i think high income countries like western europe, north america, clearly they will do the bilateral contracts they have signed get the lion's share vaccines in the first year. there is the world health organisation and un co. vaccination initiative but that is negotiating two or 300 million doses which while it will help protect the most notable groups across the world committee still really only a drop in the ocean given the numbers that you need to be vaccinated. —— who. briefly, what is to stop christmas in the uk becoming a super sporadic event, just as here in the us we worry about thanksgiving doing the same? i think tony back to make some valid comments about how people can judge individual risk themselves. —— anthony fauci. i know the government is in the papers assessing options for christmas. i expect we will see some relaxation. i don't think exactly what that will be has been decided on, i think it will be from epidemiological perspective safer if we basically extend the idea of bubbles so that groups of households can connect together but close groups, so can connect together but close groups, so you don'tjust have free for all is an people mingling and that reduces the transmission risk. what actually happens is for the government to decide. professor ferguson, thank you forjoining us. as we start to look towards 2021 some of you may be thinking about your new years resolutions but — before you do that — take a look at this clip of comedian robyn shall who took some time out to look back at the resolutions she made in 2019 for this year. safe to say they didn't pan out as she would have liked! 0k. tell me if this is not hilarious. goal one, make more money. i've been unemployed since march. travel more. lose weight. be more social. i wrote cry less. cry less. i've cried every single day of this pandemic. spend more time... it's not funny, but i wrote spend more time with my grandma, and she died. tired of the coronavirus. you can't laugh at that? incredible. my wife a lwa ys laugh at that? incredible. my wife always says what are we celebrating our new year's eve. we don't know what is coming. imagine all the people that went out last year and thought hooray, 2020. let's not do that this year. hello there. it's time to take a look at what's happening over the next 6—10 days weather—wise here in the uk. to start the period, we'll have a blast of cold air coming down from the arctic, so it will feel much colder than wednesday, and those winds are strong as well, close to gale force, but it won't be long before we're looking to the atlantic for the next change. but as i say, it will feel much colder on thursday. wintry showers, sleet and snow over the hills and the mountains, icy patches there, gale—force winds as well, and lots of showers, initially. but that rash of showers will tend to ease as we head in to the afternoon, the sunny periods will become lengthier, the winds will ease down, but it won't help the temperatures. this is on the thermometer, three to nine degrees, but it will feel significantly colder, adding on the wind, and already by the end of the day, we've got the next weather front coming in to northern ireland. a smattering of rain, with some snow as it comes in to that colder air still established across scotland temporarily, and more wet weather to come later. so actually temperatures, they will dip down initially, as we go through thursday night into friday, with a touch of frost, but they should lift later in the night. and that's because we're changing our arctic air for our atlantic westerlies once again, and with them, more weather fronts laden with cloud and rain. so it does look as if we'll turn progressively cloudy and wet through the course of friday, there will be some fairly heavy rain around. we will need to keep an eye on that, considering how much rain we've had so far this week. it will be a little bit milder, well, the temperatures won't be quite as low, but given that we will be covered in cloud, and with that rain and a brisk wind, i don't imagine it will feel very pleasant out and about. that weather system moves away on friday, the trailing weather front will introduce something a little chillier during the course of saturday, so it moves its way southwards as a weakening feature. that's not to rule out some rain and quite a bit of cloud, and some hill and coastalfog around, and showers, wintry over the hills, will follow to the north, so again, with that brisk wind, feeling a bit on the chilly side but relatively mild compared in the south, but temperatures elsewhere around about average for the time of year. that weather front drags its heels across southern areas during the course of sunday. never really clearing away, but not producing much rain either, cos it's running in to an area of high pressure. so still pretty breezy in the north, with some showers, so across scotland in particular, perhaps northern ireland as well. and still fairly cloudy for much of the day, we think, across southern areas, but again it looks like there will be a lot of dry and bright weather. it's cooled down, of course, behind that cold front, for all of us, around average actually, but again, drier weather for many parts. into the start of the new week, that ridge of high pressure holds on in southern areas, but these weather fronts are never too far away coming in off the atlantic, so i think there will be the risk of some patchy rain and drizzle making its way from west to east during the course of monday. it doesn't look particularly heavy at this stage, and it introduces the milder air slightly towards the south, so lots of low cloud and hill and coastal fog. but as i say, not that much rain, and always more towards the north and the west, but with this milder atlantic air established for a time, yes, we will have some chilly nights, but it won't be particularly cold during the day, but again, just like we've seen through the latter part of this week, we'll see a weather front, a cold weather front slipping southwards and introducing a slightly chillier spell, just briefly. but again, that high pressure is holding on to the south, but basically with the, as you can see, the isobars tightly packed, and the jet stream coming in from the west, it looks as if it will stay a fairly mobile weather pattern, with further outbreaks of rain, particularly in northern and western areas, but not exclusively. so, as ever, we will keep you up to date, and as ever, there's more on our website. tonight at ten, the uk's four nations are trying to agree on a common approach to covid in the christmas period. it all depends on the rates of infection coming down in the coming weeks in time for the festive season. every administration is trying to find common ground. public health england says it would like families across the uk to celebrate together. we are very keen that we have christmas as to close normal as possible. that requires all of us to make every effort over this national restriction period, and even in early december, to get the cases as low as possible. but any relaxation of the rules would come at a price. we'll have more details. also tonight: more encouraging news about the pfizer—biontech vaccine. it's 94% effective in people over 65.