The EU and The Vaccine
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 27 March 2021
⏱️ 29 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The EU’s vaccination programme has had several setbacks with repeated delays and safety concerns. The commission has blamed pharmaceutical companies for failing to deliver promised jabs, and has tightened export controls. Kevin Connolly reflects on the twists and turns of the vaccine saga – and how history may offer some insight into what happens next.
Israel has held its fourth election in two years - yielding yet another inconclusive result. Neither Benjamin Netanyahu nor his challengers secured a governing majority. Some analysts say the stalemate is further alienating Israelis from the political system. Joel Greenberg says the outcome could turn on an unlikely kingmaker.
The recent shooting of six Asian Americans in Georgia has highlighted entrenched prejudice in the US. In the last year there has been a spike in reports of attacks and other abuse directed against people of Asian descent. Annie Phrommayon is in San Francisco and reflects on how racist attitudes have become normalised.
Germany has gone to great lengths in recent decades to acknowledge its Nazi legacy. But the subject is still highly sensitive. In Berlin, Alexa Dvorson had an improbable conversation born out of a reader's courage to reach out to a stranger--and find out more about her grandfather's past as a Nazi Youth leader.
We hear the story of Shirley - from her time as an editor on the Japan Times newspaper to her return to Canada, where, due to her insurance, she had treatment for her deteriorating health. In a cruel twist, the pandemic restrictions separated her from her life partner in the US, and prevented them from being reunited before she died. Hugh Levinson tells the story of what the experience meant for the couple.
Presenter: Kate Adie Producer: Serena Tarling
Transcript
Click on a timestamp to play from that location
| 0:00.0 | BBC sounds, music, radio, podcasts. |
| 0:05.0 | Today, yet another election in Israel |
| 0:08.0 | and yet another inconclusive result. |
| 0:11.0 | Curiously, it may be that Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's fate |
| 0:15.0 | may lie in the hands of an Islamist party. |
| 0:18.0 | Another mass shooting in America, |
| 0:21.0 | the usual questions about gun control, |
| 0:24.0 | but the spotlight this time is on the victims, Asian Americans |
| 0:29.0 | and how they're subject to racist abuse and prejudice. |
| 0:34.0 | In Germany, a moment of serendipity, |
| 0:37.0 | an author comes into contact with the descendant of one of the Nazi youth leaders |
| 0:42.0 | about whom she wrote, |
| 0:44.0 | underlining the message, never forget. |
| 0:47.0 | And parted by the pandemic, the story of Shirley, |
| 0:51.0 | with a lively life as a journalist in Japan, |
| 0:54.0 | it ends in Canada |
| 0:56.0 | and illustrates the way the bureaucratic complications |
| 0:59.0 | wrought by the pandemic can affect our most significant moments. |
| 1:05.0 | First to Brussels, |
| 1:07.0 | where the day by day wrangle over vaccines has dominated Europe's politicians, |
| 1:12.0 | shortfalls, delays, safety concerns, |
| 1:15.0 | with blame being puzzled out in various directions. |
... |
Please login to see the full transcript.
Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from BBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.
Generated transcripts are the property of BBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.
Copyright © Tapesearch 2026.

