Covid-19 vaccines prevent 100% of deaths

Claudia Hammond discusses the latest influx of excellent Covid-19 vaccine results with Sarah Boseley, health editor of The Guardian. Dr Samara Linton reports on efforts by black doctors in the UK to overcome vaccine hesitancy in their communities. The Biden administration is to rescind the USA’s Mexico City Policy which denies federal aid funding to organisations overseas that provide abortion counselling or services. The policy, also known as the Global Gag, prevented other family planning and HIV prevention services from receiving essential funding. Joy Phumaphi, former Botswanan health minister and now with the Partnership for Maternal, Newborn and Child Health talks to Claudia about the impact of the policy on the health and wellbeing on women and children in sub-Saharan Africa, and about the prospects for these services after the Mexico City Policy’s imminent demise. A team of eye specialists at University College London has found that levels of air pollution typical of big cities around the world increase the risk of one of the commonest causes of age-related sight loss – macular degeneration, a progressive deterioration of the retina. Professor Paul Foster tells Claudia how airborne pollutants from traffic and industry can damage the eye. Presenter: Claudia Hammond

Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker (Picture: Dr. Nita Patel, Director of Antibody discovery and Vaccine development, lifts a vial with a potential coronavirus, COVID-19, vaccine at Novavax labs in Gaithersburg, Maryland in March 2020. Photo: Andrew Caballero-Reynolds/AFP.)