Health Check examines the excitement around the preliminary announcement of 90% effectiveness of BioNTech and Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine in its phase 3 clinical trial. Claudia Hammond talks to Professor Gregory Poland, head of vaccine research at the Mayo Clinic in the United States about what we do and don’t know about the vaccine at this stage, and how the vaccine may be approved and deployed in the coming months. She consults Kalipso Chalkidou, Professor of Global Health Practice at Imperial College London, about the challenges of getting this vaccine to people in low and middle income countries. One logistical problem is that the vaccine has to be stored at minus 80 degrees Celsuis. BBC medical and science correspondent James Gallagher also joins Claudia to explain the innovative nature of the vaccine and how its interim success bodes well for the development of other coronavirus vaccines.   Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker (Picture: Medications in sealed vials with a disposable plastic medical syringe. Photo credit: GIPhotoStock/Getty Images.)

Covid vaccine ‘90% effective’

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After a number of incidents around the world so far this year that have left dozens of flyers needing hospital treatment, we look at how a rise in air turbulence because of global warming is leading to more and more injuries to passengers. Professor Paul Williams from the University of Reading in the UK tells us why turbulence is so hard to plan for, how new technology might be able to help solve the problem, and how despite an increase in incidents it’s still incredibly rare to experience extreme turbulence./ Claudia Hammond is also joined by Monica Lakhanpaul, Professor of Integrated Community Child Health at University College London, to look at how a shortage of HPV vaccines is leading to millions of girls across Africa missing out on receiving the shots. Monica also tells us about her new research on the barriers children with epilepsy are facing being able to exercise. We also explore what it’s like for people that don’t have an inner monologue and can’t imagine sounds – a phenomenon known as anauralia. Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Dan Welsh

Is turbulence injuring more and more flyers?

After a 50% jump in meningitis cases reported across Africa last year, Nigeria is becoming the first country to roll out a new 5-in-1 meningitis vaccine. The Men5CV vaccine protects people against five strains of the meningococcus bacteria. Claudia Hammond is joined by New Scientist medical journalist Clare Wilson to discuss how it’s hoped the treatment will help significantly reduce cases of the disease. We also head to Brazil to hear how the country is dealing with long Covid, four years after the pandemic. Clare also tells Claudia about the new cancer treatment testing different drugs on thousands of miniature tumours to see which of them works best. The team behind the research at Florida International University in Miami say they hope it could eventually be used routinely for everyone with cancer.  We also get a new update from British journalist Mike Powell, as we follow his journey after receiving a kidney transplant. And Claudia and Clare look at how patches of skin grafted onto people receiving lung transplants are being used as a way of spotting organ rejection in a new trial. Image Credit: Martin Harvey Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Dan Welsh

Nigeria rolls out world’s first 5-in-1 meningitis vaccine

Claudia Hammond presents a special edition of Health Check from the Northern Ireland Science Festival, where she’s joined by a panel of experts to discuss the psychology of hope. With a live audience in Belfast’s Metropolitan Arts Centre, Claudia speaks to Dr Karen Kirby, senior lecturer in psychology at the University of Ulster; Dr Kevin Mitchell, associate professor of genetics and neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin; and author Sinéad Moriarty. Topics include the role of hope in medical scenarios, if we can learn to be hopeful, and how we can hold onto hope in the modern world. We also hear questions from our audience, including whether or not we should all just lower our expectations. Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Dan Welsh

How we hope

As the recent surge in cases of dengue fever continues across Latin America and the Caribbean, Puerto Rico declares a public health emergency.  Claudia Hammond is joined by Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology at Boston University, Matt Fox, to hear how warmer temperatures have lead to outbreaks of the mosquito-borne disease around the world, with millions of cases reported so far this year. We speak to the artist Jason Wilsher-Mills at his latest exhibition inspired by his childhood experiences of disability, and hear the role it played in his journey into the arts. Claudia and Matt discuss the spread of mpox in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, with cases reported in all but 3 of the country’s 26 provinces. We hear from Uganda about the project hoping to help provide essential equipment for safe anaesthesia in children’s surgery.  And the study that says just two nights of broken sleep are enough to make us feel years older. Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Dan Welsh

Puerto Rico declares dengue fever emergency

The latest on the first procedure to transplant a kidney from a pig into a living patient. Claudia Hammond is joined in the studio by Dr Graham Easton to hear how the organ was genetically modified to reduce the risk of it being rejected following a four hour surgery in Massachusetts in the US.  We also hear about the data that’s linked working outdoors in sunlight to non-melanoma skin cancer. The report from the World Health Organisation and the International Labour Organization says one in three deaths from this type of skin cancer is caused by ultraviolet radiation from outdoor work.  Claudia and Graham also discuss new research from India that’s found working in extreme heat can double the risk of stillbirth and miscarriage for pregnant women. It’s also calling for more advice for working pregnant women around the world.  We go to Cameroon to hear about the medicines being sold to passengers on buses, despite there being no evidence they actually work.  And we hear how some reporting over claims that intermittent fasting is linked to an increased risk of heart-related death may have jumped the gun.  Presenter: Claudia Hammond 
Producer: Dan Welsh  (Photo: Operating theatre. Credit: Getty Images)

Covid vaccine ‘90% effective’

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