Original version

BBC World Service West and Central Africa Schedule

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

Health Check

Factual: Health & Wellbeing

Factual: Science & Nature: Science & Technology

Health issues and medical breakthroughs from around the world.

BBC World Service schedule for American satellite radio and the Caribbean

BBC World Service Americas and the Caribbean

BBC World Service

BBC World Service News Internet

BBC World Service Europe and the Middle East

BBC World Service Online

BBC World Service Australasia

BBC World Service South Asia

BBC World Service East Asia

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa Schedule

BBC World Service East and Southern Africa

Health Check: Covid vaccines: bad news, good news

Magazines & Reviews

A doctor walks in the Respiratory & Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto

2021/02/10 GMT

Covid vaccines: bad news, good news

BBC World Service - Health Check, Covid vaccines: bad news, good news

AstraZeneca vaccine disappoints in South Africa but may reduce virus spread elsewhere

AstraZeneca vaccine developments; ovarian cancer care in Zambia and Brazil; healing the USA; spicy food and cancers of the gut.

The South African government has decided to pause its roll-out of the Astrazeneca-Oxford vaccine because of disappointing results of the vaccine’s effectiveness against the most common variant in the country in a trial of young people. And is there any good evidence from trials elsewhere that this vaccine reduces the chances of people spreading the coronavirus to others, as well as preventing severe illness and death? How do you test whether a vaccine prevents or reduces transmission of the coronavirus? Claudia’s regular guest epidemiologist Professor Matt Fox of Boston University discusses the issues.  
  
Claudia talks to two ovarian cancer specialists, Dorothy Lombe in Zambia and Georgia Funtes Cintra in Brazil about the challenges and success stories in providing treatment and care for women with this kind of cancer. The Global Cancer Coalition Network has released a report documenting the worsening situation in cancer care in 104 countries because of the coronavirus pandemic. Dorothy and Georgia tell us how the disruption has affected their patients.

As Donald Trump’s impeachment trial gets underway, reporter Alison van Diggelen looks at social science research on political polarisation in US society, and an experiment run by Stanford University to heal divisions.

Does a frequent intake of spicy food influence a person’s risk of developing cancers of the gut? Studies to date have been inconclusive but now a massive study following 500,000 people comes out of China, finding that spicy food is protective. Spicy food appears to lower the risk of getting cancer of the oesophagus and, to a lesser extent, the stomach as well.     

Presenter: Claudia Hammond
Producer: Andrew Luck-Baker


(Picture: A doctor walks in the Respiratory & Meningeal Pathogens Research Unit at Chris Hani Baragwanath Hospital in Soweto, South Africa in July 2020. Photo credit: Luca Sola/AFP/Getty Images.)

Accessibility links

Programme Index

Health Check

Covid vaccines: bad news, good news

Genres

Formats

Brand

BBC World Service West and Central Africa

About BBC World Service