Opposition after it imposes prison they could all be used in one of the biggest logistical operations the country has seen. Sentences on three democracy activists. And the ski season has this will take a while before been cancelled in france and the everything changes. French authorities are trying to but we are hopeful that stop this is the beginning people from crossing the border into of the end of this very difficult year that weve had. Switzerland to continue their skiing adventures. A huge moment in the fight against covid 19. Britain has become the first country in the west to approve the use of a coronavirus vaccine. Uk regulators say the jab from pfizer and biontech is safe and that clears the way for a Mass Immunisation Programme to start next week. Lots of reaction to bring you. Heres the Prime Minister a little earlier. Im really lost in admiration for science and the ability of scientists to solve human problems in the way that they can. And this is not easy. Bear in mind, weve got a vaccine now for covid that really, really works. Theres no question that it works. But we havent got a vaccine for sars or mers or hiv. You know, this is a huge, huge, fantastic effort thats gone into this. The uks deputy chief medical officerjonathan van tam and sir simon stevens, chief executive of nhs england summed up the days achievements. It has now slowed down safely. It has now stopped in the station, and the doors have opened. That was the authorisation by the nhra. What we need now is for people to get on that train and travel safely to their destinations. Clinical trials showed that this vaccine is 95 effective when used in two doses. And as we heard there, in the uk the most vulnerable will receive it first. Heres the managing director of pfizer uk. Its an incredible moment for society and i really think this is now a turning point in the fight against this pandemic both here in the uk and across the globe. I couldnt be prouder right now. We are working to supply 800,000 doses this week to the nhs and were scaling up from there. Our intention is across the globe that this year, we will provide up to 50 million doses and through 2021, will provide 1. 3 billion doses around the world. More than 59,000 covid related deaths have been recorded in the uk. And while england hasjust finished its Second National lockdown it now begins a new range of restrictions that remain a long way from normal life. Which is the reaction of bbc radio 1 presenter greg james is one that a lot of people can relate to. Just to recap our top story, regulatora have approved just to recap our top story, regulators have approved of pfizer by untagged jab, saying its safe to be rolled out ah its 7 33 pm. Yeah yes va ci nation im feeling a little low key following on from greg. Well, the uk has pre ordered 40million doses of this vaccine. 10million will arrive by the end of the month. And this is the order in which people will get it. Nine groups are being prioritised. Top of this list are care homes and front line health and social care workers. Everyone will receive two doses 21 days apart. Only after those nine groups have been treated a second vaccination phase will begin. This is the chair of the committee that is deciding the priority list. This is phase one of the programme, in phase one, we hope that 90 99 of people who are at risk of dying from covid 19 will be included or covered. This Vaccination Programme is likely to be the biggest in the uks history. And the logistics are enormous. The vaccine will be administered via three main routes gps, hospitals and then temporary facilities in sports stadiums, car parks and shopping center. Also these nightingale hospitals which were designed to help with an overflow of patients at the height of the pandemic will also be used. Voluntees will also be crucial to the roll out. Around 30,000 are being recruited. Distribution is a key challenge too. The vaccine doses will be made in belgium. And it has to be transported from there in specially designed dry ice packs that can keep it at minus 70 degrees celsius. Heres pfizer uk again on these challenges. This is a really critical point. Once the vaccine actually reaches the site of deployments, the vaccine can be stored under refrigerated conditions, so between 2 8 degrees for up to five days, so thats a really important point. That will allow many populations across the uk to benefit from this vaccine. The Pfizer Biontech vaccine is the fastest ever to go from concept to reality. The whole process tookjust ten months. And the uk regulator that has given it the go ahead is the mhra. Drjune raine leads it. Separate teams have been working in parallel to deliver the most rigorous review of this vaccine. No corners have been cut. Our expert scientists and clinicians worked round the clock carefully, methodically, poring over tables and analysis and graphs on every single piece of data. Dr chris smith, a virologist based at cambridge university, and host of the naked scientists radio show. How will roll good to see you, chris. Thank you for your time. What are your feelings, what is your reaction to todays developments . Well, Boris Johnson said this is biological jujitsu at the downing street press conference. I think its a train for science. I think it shows what human endeavour when we all get together and Work Together can achieve. And its a wonderful Christmas Present which i think will be a huge shot in the arm not just which i think will be a huge shot in the arm notjust in stopping coronavirus but for boosting the nations morale at a time when we really need it. How do you see this vaccine being used alongside some of the other vaccines which were anticipating would be approved in the coming weeks and months . Well, its not a one horse race. And the possibility of having multiple options on the table puts us in a really strong position because it makes us resilient against supply and hold ups and supply. It makes us resilient against the fact that not all vaccines are going to suit eve ryo ne all vaccines are going to suit everyone optimally, and i suspect that over the coming days weeks and months, we are going to learn which vaccines work best in certain groups of people and at what doses. They merit be there for changes in which we deploy them and use them. So having multiple options that we can use makes us much more resilient and a lwa ys use makes us much more resilient and always a good thing. In terms of the messaging around this vaccine, what would you like the government to be saying to everyone about their prospects of taking it. The downing street the downing street press conference this afternoon, jonathan van and really emphasise the point that this is only going to work if people actually take it up. Therefore, i think its a legitimate concern among the government about uptake, because previous surveys in this country but also in america have suggested that there may be some vaccine hesitancy, people are sceptical and concerned because of the pace of development of these vaccines. Basically what normally ta kes te n vaccines. Basically what normally takes ten years has been achieved in ten months. People are therefore fewer fold that corners been cut. I think that was the point thatjune rain in the clip that you just played from the mhr a was to address. Corners havent been cut, theyve been able to streamline the process to really speed this through. So i think one of reassurance about safety is important, and the fact that this will only work if we all Work Together to get it into the people who need it and also people who are for those people who need it. Ultimately come as many people as possible to stop the fire circulating. If we do that as soon as possible, we can all get back to normal as soon as possible. Chris, you will be staying with us. Inc. You very much for the moment. This announcement that the uk had approved the vaccine before any other country rapidly become political and intertwined with brexit. Talking earlier, health secretrary matt hancock said. Another senior conservative Jacob Rees Mogg tweeted a similar message. But brexit isnt directly connected to whats happenend. The uk remains in a brexit transition period under which is follows most eu regulations and processes. Under eu rules, a vaccine must be authorised by the european medicines agency. However individual countries can use a procedure that lets them diverge from this in health emergencies. The head of the uk agency that took todays decision has told us. The one january being when the brexit transition period ends. So in fact any eu country could have used this same emergency law and fast tracked the process. Heres dr peter liese who is a member of the european parliament. Germany, my country, would also have the option. Its not a brexit issue. European law allows emergency authorisation, but germany is not doing it, like many other European Countries, because we think an approval with the European Medical Agency is more safe and also gives more liability to the company. So, i think its problematic because the risk is higher than after approval of the European Medical Agency and the liability for the company is not there when emergency authorisation is given. And bbc reality check has also looked at this. Its full assessment is online. It concludes. The fact that the uk is the first country in the world to approve this vaccine has got nothing directly to do with brexit. So that clears that up. Even the way the uk announced regulator approval has drawn some criticism the uks business secretary tweeted that the uk was first to sign a deal with Pfizer Biontech and is now the first to deploy it, but then added. Germanys ambassador to the uk, andreas michaelis, responded. Heres Damian Mcguiness on biontech, and the couple who founded it. The Company Biontech was only founded in 2008, it was founded by a german turkish couple, professor sahin who came to germany when he was four with his father who came to work and a german carfactory here. In a german car factory here. He later became a doctor, became a very famous cancer researcher. And was responsible for some quite round breaking technology. He then set up with his wife, who is also a researcher and scientist, also very renowned in herfield, the Company Biontech, only in 2008. Now, they originally were focusing on some quite cutting edge cancer research. They then segued at the beginning of this year to trying to find a vaccine using similar technology. Professor sahin says that as soon as he read about what was happening in china, in wuhan, right at the big about what was happening in china, in wuhan, right at the beginning of the pandemic, he read about it in the lancet, and he says that straightaway, he took all the resources of biontech , which are relatively small pharma start up to put it right into creating a vaccine. Now, of course, that this relatively Small Company has suddenly become world renowned. And this couple, the german turkish couple who founded the company are now among the 100 richest people in germany. While the uk will be the First Western country to roll out a vaccine, both china and russia have already been distributing their own vaccines before final trials have finished. And today Vladimir Putin ordered mass vaccinations in russia to Begin Next Week using sputnik vee vaccine. These are pictures of volunteers being given it after it was registered for use in august. Today russias Health Minister presented it to the Un General Assembly ahead of who approval. The vaccine has received a certificate on the 11th of august. Under emergency rules adopted during the covid 19 pandemic, it can be used to vaccinate the population. We are going to increase the production of the vaccine in russia and globally. It currently ranks among top candidate vaccine approaching the end of Clinical Trials at the start of mass production on the World Health Organisation list. Dr chris smith, a virologist based at cambridge university, and host of the naked scientists radio show. Chris, how do you assign assess how they are going about the distribution of their vaccines . Well, there was concern early on in this because they appeared to be just ploughing their way without too much heat or regard for the way that we normally do this internationally seeking the right approvals, taking the right trial processes and so on for many think its quite telling that when Vladimir Putin was asked the other day, have you have the vaccine, actually, it was replayed oii vaccine, actually, it was replayed on his behalf, they said no, he hasnt. 0ne on his behalf, they said no, he hasnt. One wonders why such a staunch advocate for the technology hasnt yet received the vaccine himself. We havent had a sexist soak next satisfactory answer yet. I think the fact that satisfactory answer yet. Other rival products have been through procedures and through large scale trials, thats more reassuring. So we know that we dont have to resort to things that might be slightly shaky ground in terms of regulation on technology. They will probably sort this out, but in the early days, people were very concerned about it for that reason. Chris, thank you very much for your help. We met pleasure. Pleasure. For your help. We met pleasure. Pleasure. Lets talk about covid 19 in a different way. France has announced its imposing random border checks to stop people going to ski in neighbouring switzerland. Already france has decided to shut its ski lifts until the new year to stop the spread of covid. Germany and italy are doing the same. But swiss slopes are already open and the concern is french skiers will simply nip across the border. Heres the french Prime Ministerjean castex being quizzed on it on bfmtv. That means if im a french person andi that means if im a french person and i want to ski and i get checked by the police then you will be tested and placed in a seven day quarantine, that clear . What happens to me . The conclusion we get from this, mr, is that you will not go to switzerland. The ski season at christmas and the new year is a vital part of the economy for many European Countries and theres anger at frances decision to shut its ski lifts. These images are from a resort of bourg d0isans workers and skiers are protesting the closure. And this is the town hall of chatel in france which has draped swiss flags from its windows in protest. Chatel is among a number of resorts which straddles the border. Its mayor says. Germany has been pushing for an agreement with eu countries to keep ski resorts closed until early january remember switzerland is not in the eu. And theres good reason to focus on them some of the early covid hotspots were at ski resorts some were thought to contribute to the initial spread of the virus across europe. The most notorious outbreak was at the austrian resort of ischgl visitors from 45 countries said they caught coronavirus. The austrian government is now facing possible compensation claims from thousands of people who allege it didnt act quickly enough. Both france and italy support the co ordinated approach. Last week, italian Prime MinisterGiuseppe Conte said. But spain and austria are keen not to shut their slopes entirely. Austria has Just Announced that ski slopes will open for domestic use on 24th of december. Hotels a nd restau ra nts will stay closed though until the 7th of january. Its also announced a quarantine until tenth january for people coming from countries with more than 100 cases per 100,000 people in the past two weeks this includes germany and italy. Lets speak to bethany bell who is with us in vienna. Bethany, given that these resorts were at the heart of the early days of the pandemic, what is the argument for taking the chance to keep them open . Well, if you have to look at the details of this. Austria has said that the ski slopes will be open, but hotels and restau ra nts slopes will be open, but hotels and restaurants will be closed until at least the 7th of january and also the quarantine rules compound that by making skiing holidays pretty much virtually impossible over the christmas holidays, because under the quarantine rules. A country with a high level of infection which is most of europe at the moment, you would have to quarantine for ten days here in austria. You could test your way out early if you test negative after five days, but if there are no hotels for you to stay and, if there are no restaurants, basically, with the austrians have said today is if you are a local and you live close enough to ski run for a day trip, then you can go skiing because its an activity that takes place outdoors, but there is no restau ra nts, place outdoors, but there is no restaurants, theres nowhere to stay, so basically, its locals only. Bethany, can you help me understand how important, what the contribution is of ski resorts to the broader economy in austria . Its hugely important for austria. Its really a very, very significant part of this countrys economy, and there had been a lot of pressure. A lot of them had put a lot of thought about putting ways of keeping distance, to make sure people wore masks on key to ski lifts, but the infection rates in austria and across so much of europe are just too high at the moment. The government says that they will make sure that these places stay shut until the second week of january, and they could open them then if the infection rates allow. Now, austria is just about to come out of a very Strict Lockdown on the 7th of december of people pretty much staying at home as much as possible and shops are going to reopen on the 7th of december. Children will start going back to school again, but restau ra nts going back to school again, but restaurants in the whole of the country are going to stay shut and the ski resorts crucially too. The hope is that if the country can keep infection rates down and not to have lots of people crossing borders number then they might be able to open things up injanuary. Be