Policy Matters: Live from lockdown #3 – new hope in the battle against coronavirus

In this episode of Policy Matters hosts Franz Buscha and Matt Dickson again find themselves at the start of a coronavirus lockdown, though this time lockdown #3 is much closer to the first lockdown, with almost everything, including schools, closed. Matt and Franz begin by discussing their personal situations in lockdown as well as the national situation, before looking to the positives not only of the vaccines but also to the availability of existing drugs that are able to treat people who have already contracted COVID-19. After outlining the success of the Recovery programme that has been clinically trialling drugs for COVID-19 and has already saved 650,000 lives worldwide, Franz and Matt go on to discuss the importance of randomised controlled trails in providing robust evidence of causal effects both in medical science and public policymaking. The programme ends with consideration of the other big policy area that’s dominated recent weeks: Brexit. January 1st saw the end of the transition period and a new relationship between the UK and the EU, so Franz and Matt break their long-standing Brexit embargo to talk about the ways in which life has changed already and how things may unfold in the longer term – and commit to another 10 years of Policy Matters in the process!