Covid-19 vaccines: Unknowns and dilemmas

Some of the first large scale trials of Covid-19 vaccines may report results to regulators in the next few weeks. These first results will reveal how effective these vaccines are at preventing mild Covid illness but they’re unlikely to tell us how good they are at preventing serious disease and death. Should governments permit wide scale vaccination of populations based on that level of data when this may compromise learning more about their efficacy? And might widespread deployment of first generation Covid-19 vaccines make it harder to properly trial vaccines at earlier stages of development but which may have the potential to be more effective? Claudia Hammond discusses the dilemmas with Dr Gregory Poland, director of the Mayo Vaccine Research Group. People who are double-jointed are much more prone to suffering from anxiety and panics attacks. Reporter Madeleine Finlay investigates the link. Claudia consults mental health experts for tips to help people get through the coming months of uncertainty and anxiety. Boston University epidemiologist Matthew Fox joins Claudia with insights on vaccine hesitancy, how Namibia is maintaining its HIV treatment services under Covid-19 restrictions and whether antibiotics can prevent surgery for appendicitis. Presenter: Claudia Hammond

Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker (Picture: A doctor preparing a coronavirus vaccine. Photo credit: Filippo Bacci/Getty Images.)