Of the most well known names on the uk high street has collapsed into adminsistration putting 13,000 jobs at risk. And under covid rules the scotch egg will be classed a substantial meal. Hugely significant to thousands of uk pub goers who must eat, if they are to be allowed to drink. The bad news youll probably still be hungry. Hello im katty kay in washington, Christian Fraser is in london. Lets start with the good news. Things are moving fast on the Covid Vaccine front. Moderna filed for us Regulatory Approval of its vaccine today the second pharaceutical company to do so. And an Advisory Panel to the cdc will meet tomorrow to decide who should get the very first doses. But widespread Vaccine Distribution is still months away and in the meantime the number of infections in the us is soaring. Hospitals are overrun and Health Care Workers are exhausted. This weekend dr fauci warned america could see a thanksgiving surge in cases, on top of the existing winter surge. But the Top Trump Health official, alex azar, was at pains to stress the positive, he is confident both vaccines could be administered to americans before christmas. With pfizer, we at the fda announced an Advisory Committee for december the 10th, and if everything is on track, everything proves out to be what it appears to be, we could be looking at approval within days after that. Moderna is basically one week behind that, and general said from operation warp speed, will ship within 24 hours of fda authorisation. So we could be seen both of these vaccines out and getting into peoples arms before christmas. Moderna has filed for both us and eu Regulatory Approval and it gain uk approval as well. Regulators here are also looking at emergency approval for the pfizer vaccine, as well as the one from astrazenca and oxford university. I know that hope is on the horizon. In the past fortnight, weve made some really significant progress on vaccines, and the nhs now stands ready to deploy a vaccine should one be approved by the uks independent regulator. 0k, ok, so where we are where are we at the moment . Were joined now by from new york by dr uche blackstock, an emergency medical physician and yahoo news contributor and by dr Deepti Gurdasani an epidemiologist and Queen Mary University of london. Doctor blackstock let me start with you. We just doctor blackstock let me start with you. Wejust had doctor blackstock let me start with you. We just had the Holiday Weekend here in the United States, we know a lot of people are travelling, weve seen pictures of airports. What are you fearing most in your hospital as you fearing most in your hospital as you see the potential impacts of those holiday travellers . Right, what i will say is that we saw very long lines of people waiting to get tested just prior to thanksgiving holidays so that they could, against recommendations, spend time with her family. We are already seeing a lot of covert patients coming in. I think in two weeks, we will start to see an uptick in hospitalisations due to covid i9 here in new york city and across the country, u nfortu nately. City and across the country, unfortunately. I think people still can isolate if they were with other people during thanksgiving. They should get tested as soon as possible. Doctor, when you look at the situation here in america from that side of the atlantic, where the uk hasa that side of the atlantic, where the uk has a comp located tier system, people are under a tonne of restrictions, and you see whats happening here in the states. Do you think america could be better off if they went through the National Lockdown that the uk has just went there . I mean, certainly theres beena there . I mean, certainly theres been a huge surge in cases in the us, and there is definitely a need for cove rt us, and there is definitely a need for covert strategy thats consistent in science driven. I think certainly a lockdown wouldve helped because we are seeing an exponential rapid rise in cases in the us, and certainly lockdowns are helpful in curbing those rapid rises that we see so that cases can come down quickly and thats a huge problem in the us based on my understanding. Doctor blackstock, as was said, a huge debate here with the system and whether we should continue with some of the restrictions, which are pretty onerous, how do you see it as an american looking this way . Well, no, i see that we should here in the us have a National Strategy similar to european countries. I think one of the reasons why we see this urge that we see is because there is no coherent evidence based strategy, and essentially, we have 50 different states using 50 different strategies, the patchwork response, and thats why we havent been able to get this virus under control. Doctor, a 30 drop in the last four weeks, so we are flattening the curve, but given what weve been through, would you expect a bigger drop in the infection rate . |j through, would you expect a bigger drop in the infection rate . I think many of us were hoping for a bigger drop in the infection rate, the office of National Statistics estimated that we had 55,000 daily cases at the beginning of lockdown, and even at 30 lower, we still have one in 100 people in england infected with the virus, thats a very large number. So we need to get much, much lower down to really bring this under control. What do you think is going to happen over christmas . Weve just been through the thanksgiving holiday here, you are hearing from you know, the stories of travellers. Are you concerned that if things are used up over christmas and households are meeting again, we could see what anthony is explaining here is a search on a surge in the us to die two fauci . Search on a surge in the us to die two fauci . Ithink search on a surge in the us to die two fauci . I think that if there isa mixing two fauci . I think that if there is a mixing and household over christmas, there will be a surge in transmission in early january. Christmas, there will be a surge in transmission in earlyjanuary. I mean, even transmission in earlyjanuary. I mean, even though the studies results are positive until the declining cases, we are not anywhere near where we need to be. We are still seeing rises of cases in children, and in adults, and all of that will get worse if people mix during christmas, because we know that that is exactly how transmission happens, among households indoors, which is exactly the sort of thing that we will see over christmas. So youve given us the warning scenarios, the position were in right now. Lets talk a bit about the vaccine though, because thats my suppose for all of buses the light at the end of the tunnel. When you look at the situation here in the uk, and in the us, and talking about having vaccines reaching people, potentially into three weeks, can we take our foot off the pedal a bit and think you know can actually, it there is a vaccine around the corner, its not that far away, things are going to get better at the beginning of next year . So can my response to that is that, no, we definitely cannot take our foot off the pedal. We are in the midst of a surge, over the next seven the midst of a surge, over the next seven months, i do think it will be about seven months until the vaccine is available to the Wider Population, you know, we are going to need to really stick to those Public Health measures that we know works so well, otherwise we are going to see astronomical numbers. I think that the vaccine is going to roll out first to Health Care Workers, than to essential workers and elderly people, people in long term facilities, and so the Wider Population would not even start being vaccinated untiljune or july, so we have plenty of time, you know, to still make sure that we are bridging that time by using the Public Health measures that we know work well. Of work well. Of just work well. 0fjust wondering, if work well. Of just wondering, if you work well. 0fjust wondering, if you dont have confidence in people following the advice theyve been given over thanksgiving, whether you have any confidence they will get vaccinated . Well, so that is definitely a concern of myself and other positions of Public Health experts covid is what i was the we need to be using this time right now on robust Public Health messaging campaigns, to use full transparency, to really explain to people watch vaccines are, the importance of the vaccines are, the importance of the vaccine and why they should take a vaccine. Its going to be incredibly important, because whats the point in having a safe and effective vaccine if no one will take it when its available to them in the spring . Doctor, we have never done anything ona doctor, we have never done anything on a scale like this in terms of national Public Health, do you think we are better prepared for this than we are better prepared for this than we we re we are better prepared for this than we were for the testing . No. No, thats not what im hearing. I think its a huge challenge. I completely agree with the points that doctor blackstock made, that its really not the end. A vaccine is not the end all for many, many reasons, and its notjust based on the efficacy of the vaccine, but as you say, the uptake, remember, this vaccine hasnt been licensed in children yet, and children form a large perp elation of the community that transmits. So we dont necessarily see outbreaks coming to an end anytime soon, and its deftly pa rt of an end anytime soon, and its deftly part of Public Health response, not the entire strategy. 0k, we have to leave it there. Doctors, really interesting to get your thoughts, your respective thoughts on the pandemic on either side of the atlantic. Thank you for that. Back in the basement i see, katty for quarantine for two weeks having returned from overseas. Does anybody check up on you . No its amazing to my was just check up on you . No its amazing to my wasjust thinking check up on you . No its amazing to my was just thinking of what doctor blackstock was staying there about the need for some kind of National Strategy, because i landed back here at the airport on thursday. Nobody asked me for my address, nobody at the airport said you should go and quarantine, nobody took my temperature, there was no kind of screening whatsoever, and no follow up. I tra nsited screening whatsoever, and no follow up. I transited through germany, and as i transited through germany, and as i transited through germany, i had one night i was asked for my address, where i would stay, i was told i couldnt leave the hotel, and a guy here to america and there is nothing. It really does feel like there is no plan at the moment. Ifelt feel like there is no plan at the moment. I felt nervous coming feel like there is no plan at the moment. Ifelt nervous coming back here. When you compare thats what weve had on our programme from the far east and how they are locked in hotel rooms for two weeks, not even able to leave the major shows you dozens able to leave the major shows you d oze ns of able to leave the major shows you dozens of how different two approaches are. Yes, and people here, i think, approaches are. Yes, and people here, ithink, that approaches are. Yes, and people here, i think, that Whenjoe Biden comes in, there might be more of a National Strategy, but as the doctor said, there are 50 states, they often come up with their own solutions. Talking about parallel universes, there are two parallel universes, there are two parallel universes in politics at the moment. The first is one in whichjoe biden won the election fair and square, and will take office on january 20th. The second, is that the vote was stolen from donald trump in an election rigging fiasco unprecedented in scale. Mr trump and much of his base, firmly subscribe to the latter even though it is unsubstantiated. On sunday the president spoke with fox news in his first tv interview since the election, repeating many of the conspiracy theories that populate his twitter account. Well should use the word interview under advisement, this was more a 45 minute monologue which went down all sorts of avenues, he even accused the fbi and thejustice department, whose bosses he personally appointed, of somehow being complicit. This is total fraud, and how the fbi and department ofjustice i dont know, maybe theyre involved but how people are allowed to get away from this. Away from this stuff, its unbelievable the neck unbelievable. This election was rigged. The selection was a total fraud. My mind will not change in six months. There was tremendous cheating here, boxes were brought in. The mail in vote is a disaster. Mr trumps rage over the election has not cooled in the way some thought it might. Its a point that Washington Post reporter amy gardner and her colleagues make in a recent article looking at the 20 days between the election and the president finally agreeing to a peaceful transfer of power. Heres an extract. Amyjoins us now. Its really illuminating, amy, to read your article. Youve interviewed dozens of people in the white house. There is one who says, if white house. There is one who says, if you think sees one, its like we wont tell him. We are happy to scratch his itch. Which begs the question, whos going to tell him he lost . Welcome i think there are people who have tried and i think that the president has not wanted to hear from them. So he has increasingly surrounded himself only with people who will tell him what he wants to hear. As we reported in that story, his own pollster, commissioned a poll after the election to show him how much his own supporters believed that he won the election. Its very much emperor has no clothes kind of scenario, and it extends into the legal team of the campaign as well. They had a fleet of lawyers across the country ready to litigate valid, what they consider valid legal battles if there were going to be a situation like florida in the year 2000, where you know, if the vote might have come down to a single state under very small counts, but thats not what happened. Theyre trying to overturn the results in six states, where hundreds of thousands of votes separates president elect biden from President Trump will stop and so those lawyers who are queued up to help with those battles are out. Theyre gone. And the people instead who are by his side and continuing to, you know, disseminate these false attacks, false accusations are out there doing it today. Amy, we know that donald trump has a long history all through his Business Career of suing people and litigation. You may or may not a lwa ys litigation. You may or may not always through the course of his career believed in his case or the validity of his case, you cover him at the white house, do you think he really believes the election was stolen, or is hejust going to go out in flames saying that it was stolen because that suits him politically . I think that we all know that President Trump hates to lose. Hes been open about it, he stated it himself. We know that he has said privately that he believes he lost, that he will not refuse to leave the white house on january the 20th, but at the same time, its as if hes not capable publicly of admitting that, and the incredible interview on fox news that you excerpt is case in point. All of his instincts of denial to surface out publicly, none of which has any basis in fact, and so coming know, some of his advisers think that this isjust a death rattle, thrashing at the very end, but at the same time, hes continuing to eat, you know, sort of excite his most ardent supporters and encourage them to believe falsely that this election was believe falsely that this election was stolen, and by the way, its worth mentioning, hes also continuing to raise hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars that he claims is to help with his legal defence fund, but most of that money is actually going to his super pack. Amy, you chronicled the 20 days since the election, what do you think the next, what we got . Another two months of President Trump in the white house, what do you think they look like . Its going to be more of the same. I think there is some hope among republicans and democrats that once december 14 arrives, the day the Electoral College makes its votes, and become so official that president elect biden is our president elect biden is our president elect that the language will tone down and there will stop being as much attention on this subject of whether the election was stolen. Of course, i thank you allude to a much broader question to what kind of president will he be for the next two months . And we have seen some hints of it. Hes been seeking to make career federal employees political so that they can be fired. Hes been undoing some Wildlife Protection standards in our country. He has plans to continue leaving his mark on government, and its very important that we in the media continue to watch that and see what it is that he does. 0k, amy gardner, thank you very much from the Washington Post. Very interesting. I mean coming away, you are right, question you said to me before, you dont neck he is saying this in private, but he says it in public too. Its not a secret what hes thinking. Meanwhile within team biden, theres been quite a few developments. Yesterday the president elect unveiled his new comms team , and its an all female line up. Mr bidens Deputy Campaign manager Kate Bedingfield will be the new White House Communications director and jen psaki the person who was formerly the Comm