Home  >  Health Check  >  New trial results of a fourth Covid booster
Health Check
New trial results of a fourth Covid booster
Health Check
May 11, 2022

Brand new results of a fourth Covid booster trial, with a mix and match approach including half doses, reveals good news for global vaccine rollout. BBC Health and Science correspondent James Gallagher explains.

Plus evidence from Ohio where Professor Ihuoma Eneli's new paper shows how weight gain increased markedly in low-income US children and teenagers during early Covid-19.

And the science of dreams, Claudia Hammond speaks to Brazilian neuroscientist Sidarta Ribeiro about his new wide ranging book The Oracle of Night.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Erika Wright

(Picture: A patient who has received a fourth Covid-19 vaccination in Rieti, Italy. Photo credit: Riccardo Fabi/NurPhoto/Getty Images.)

More Episodes



Apr 22, 2026
Making surgery safer for infants

We learn about a new injectable microgel to help reduce bleeding in infants who require surgical care. In a mice model, it reduced bleeding by at least 50%. Ashley Brown, Professor of Biomedical Engineering at North Carolina State University and UNC Chapel Hill tells presenter Claudia Hammond more about this new material her team has designed.

Joined by Professor of Global Health and Epidemiology at Boston University in the US, Dr Matthew Fox, Claudia hears about a mystery illness that is being investigated by health officials in Burundi, which has caused five deaths and sickened thirty-five people. So far lab analysis of the illness - which causes fever, vomiting, and diarrhoea - has been negative for Ebola and Marburg viruses, Rift Valley fever, and others.

We hear about influential analysis from Cochrane which has concluded that "breakthrough" Alzheimer's drugs are unlikely to benefit patients. Researchers said the impact was "well below" what was needed to make a difference to dementia patients' lives. However, their report has also provoked a vicious backlash from equally esteemed scientists who label it as fundamentally flawed.

We’re joined by health journalist Katie Silver in Mexico, who brings us the news that the President, Claudia Sheinbaum, has announced the details of a plan to introduce universal healthcare – no mean feat in country of 130 million people.

And we hear about an experiment that was done by academics to see if they could trick AI chatbots into believing in an entirely fake disease.

Presenter: Claudia Hammond Producer: Jonathan Blackwell


26min 28sec

New trial results of a fourth Covid booster

--:--
--:--