Winter jabs brought forward due to new Covid variant: Tech and Science Daily podcast

Plus, a ‘Disease X’ vaccine could be ready within 100 days of a new threat emerging thanks to UK scientists.
Researchers from the University of Oxford are examining how to adapt the vaccine it created for Covid-19 for an unknown disease, also known as Disease X (Alamy/PA)

Winter jabs are to be brought forward a month earlier in England due to the emergence of a new Covid variant.

Anybody over 65, older adult care home residents and immunosuppressed people, are to receive jabs against Covid and flu from the 11th September - with the aim to have vaccinated as many eligible people as possible by the 31st October.

The UK Health Security Agency says there is limited information available about the new variant BA.2.86, but it has a high number of mutations and has appeared in several countries.

A ‘Disease X’ vaccine could be ready within 100 days of a new threat emerging thanks to UK scientists.

Scientists from the University of Oxford are examining how to adapt the vaccine it created for Covid-19 for an unknown disease, commonly referred to as Disease X.

Our gaming writer, Vicky Jessop, joins us to discuss Starfield as excitement for the game reaches boiling point. Although many of the details remain under wraps until Friday, when those with Starfield early access can play the game ahead of the official launch on 6th September, It looks like it will be a game with countless possibilities.

And the rest

AI defeats human drone-racing champions in historic world first, research finds patients treated by female surgeons ‘less likely to die’ and committee tells Home Office that drug testing at festivals must expand before summer 2024.

Plus, Microsoft to unbundle Teams from Office in bid to avoid EU antitrust concerns, and Snapchat jumps on the AI-generated avatars bandwagon.

Listen above, and find us on your Spotify Daily Drive or wherever you stream your podcasts.

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