How to Vaccinate the World

For the final instalment of this series we are turning over the programme to you, our listeners. Over the past four months we’ve asked you to send us your questions, and you have obliged. But we haven’t always managed to reciprocate by answering them. In this episode, Tim Harford talks with a panel of experts who will try to answer as many questions as we can fit into a half an hour. Guests include Professor Beate Kampmann from the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, Professor Melinda Mills of Oxford University, and the GP Dr Helen Salisbury. Producers: Sandra Kanthal and Beth Sagar-Fenton Editor: Richard Vadon

Tim Harford is an economist not an immunologist, so he's on solid ground with this week’s programme which is all about numbers. Some of them are small but significant: 7 reported cases of cerebral venous thrombosis in Germany. Others are huge: 400 million doses of Covid 19 vaccine administered around the world. Then there are the numbers that we’d love to know but don’t - about the effectiveness of a single dose, or whether we are getting closer to herd immunity. We find out what the numbers can tell us about Covid 19 vaccinations with this week's panel of guests: Professor Sheena Cruickshank, of the University of Manchester, Professor Susan Ellenberg, from the University of Pennsylvania and Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter of the University of CambridgeProducers: Sandra Kanthal and Beth Sagar-FentonListener questions can be sent to: vaccine@bbc.co.uk

In the UK alone, more than 20 million people have had a first dose of a Covid 19 vaccine, and the government hopes to speed up the roll out by offering every adult a first dose by the end of July. But the word “offering” may be doing a lot of work in that sentence. Not everyone is taking up that offer - and there is a lot of talk about lower take-up rates of people in who are not both British and white - sometimes lumped together with the acronym BAME - Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic. In this week's How To Vaccinate The World, Tim Harford ask what is behind this trend, and what can be done to correct it with his guests Imam Qari Muhammad Asim, Chair, Mosques & Imams National Advisory Board, Dr Habib Naqvi - Director, NHS Race and Health Observatory and Dr Onyi Okonkwo, GP and clinical lead for BAME network at Birmingham and Solihull CCG,Producers: Sandra Kanthal and Beth Sagar- FentonListener questions can be sent to: vaccine@bbc.co.ukWhat Are Vaccines and Why Do They Work? Produced by Hip Hop Public Health

Vaccines and Variants is a great title for a fun new geeky game but a very bad combination for public health. New variants of the virus which causes Covid 19 are turning up in countries all over the world. Can the vaccines we have keep up with them, or do years of booster jabs await us? Tim Harford answers these questions with this week's panel of guests: Professor Peter Hotez of the Baylor College of Medicine, Professor Emma Thomson of the University of Glasgow and Dr Adam Kucharski of the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine. Producer: Sandra KanthalListener questions can be sent to: vaccine@bbc.co.uk

This week's panel of guests include President Biden’s Chief Medical Adviser, the long-serving director of the Infectious Disease Institute at the US National Institutes of Health, and a doctor who has been played on screen by Brad Pitt. All three of them are, of course, Dr Anthony Fauci. In this episode of How To Vaccinate The World Tim Harford talks with the world famous immunologist about the effectiveness and the roll out of vaccines in the US and around the world, what it’s been like to share a stage with Donald Trump in the depths of a pandemic, and answers questions from some of our loyal listeners. Producers: Sandra Kanthal and Josephine Casserly Listeners questions can be sent to vaccine@bbc.co.uk

The development of new vaccines for Covid 19 is a stunning scientific achievement. But now we some a cunning plans to get them out of their vials and into billions of arms around the world. Different strategies are being rolled out around the world, and like the virus itself, they are always evolving. In this episode of How To Vaccinate the World Tim Harford hears about vaccination strategies being rolled out in Indonesia and India and what the science tells us, and doesn't tell us, about who should be first in the queue. Listener questions for future episodes can be sent to vaccine@bbc.co.uk.Producers: Sandra Kanthal and Josephine Casserly

So, like buses, vaccine approvals, in the UK at least, seem to come in threes. First Pfizer/BioNtech, then Oxford/AstraZeneca and now Moderna have been given authorisation to be rolled out across the country. But, Britain, for the moment, is going it alone deciding to postpone second doses to up to 12 weeks. Is this the right thing to do? It’s a controversial question, and one Tim Harford asks a panel of guests: Professor Beate Kampmann, Professor Akiko Iwasaki and Professor Sir David Spiegelhalter on this week’s How To Vaccinate The World. Producers: Sandra Kanthal and Josephine Casserly For listener questions please email vaccine@bbc.co.uk

As the co-founder of Microsoft, and one of the world’s richest men, Bill Gates has long been a poster child for geek power. But, through his Gates Foundation, he is also at the centre of the effort to end the pandemic of 2020. In this edition of How To Vaccinate The World, Tim Harford talks with Bill Gates about what he’s doing, what others are doing, and what needs to happen next if we are going to vaccinate a global population against Covid 19. Producer: Sandra Kanthal

For a vaccine to work, people need to take it. But some are hesitant. On this week's How to Vaccinate the World, Tim Harford looks at why some people have concerns about taking a new coronavirus vaccine - and discussing how health providers, governments and the media should be responding. Tim is joined this week by GP Margaret McCartney, Marianna Spring, BBC Disinformation and Social Media Correspondent, and Professor Heidi Larson, Director of The Vaccine Confidence Project at London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine and author of Stuck: How Vaccine Rumours Start.

Tim Harford reports on what we know and don't know about the Oxford/Astra Zeneca Covid 19 vaccine, as well as answering questions from both the audience and our editor. On this week's panel of experts is Danny Altman, Professor of Immunology at Imperial College London, Jennifer Rogers, Head of Statistical Research and Consultancy at Phastar and Natasha Loder, Health and Policy Editor at the Economist.

A dramatic breakthrough in the race for a Covid vaccine has been announced. Now what? An unprecedented logistical effort unfolds. How effective are all these new vaccines? What goes on behind the scenes as they are manufactured, distributed, injected? Who should get priority – and who will get priority? And what about the people who mistrust the very idea? Tim Harford will be searching for answers to these and other questions in the defining story of the pandemic in the new series: How To Vaccinate The World. Producer: Sandra Kanthal Editor: Richard VadonContact us: vaccine@bbc.co.uk