The US biotech company Moderna has announced the first results from its SARS CoV-2 vaccine trial. The trial involved 30,000 people in the US, half of whom were given two doses of the vaccine, four weeks apart, the rest had dummy injections. Of the first 95 people to develop COVID-19 symptoms, only 5 had received the vaccine. The Moderna vaccine is easier to store than that announced by Pfizer and BioNtech last week as it does not need to be kept so cold.

Also in the programme: a year long BBC investigation in Kenya has uncovered evidence of a lucrative trade in stolen children; and why the war in Ethiopia’s Tigray province could destabilise the region.

(Picture: Vials and medical syringe are see in front of Moderna logo. Credit: Reuters wires)

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