The Current

The Current for Dec. 8, 2020

Today on The Current: Hari Shukla, 87, is among the first in the U.K. to receive a COVID-19 vaccine; David Sedaris on his new book, and writing without an audience in the pandemic; and calls for Canada to clamp down on illegal and abusive online pornography.
Matt Galloway is the host of CBC Radio's The Current. (CBC)

Today on The Current:

Hari Shukla received the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine in the U.K. on Tuesday, becoming one of the first people in the world to be inoculated against the virus. The 87-year-old race relations campaigner talks to Matt Galloway about why he was keen to get the vaccination. And we discuss vaccine hesitancy with Dr. Noni MacDonald, professor of pediatrics and infectious diseases at Dalhousie University.

Plus, author and essayist David Sedaris discusses his new book, The Best of Me, and what it's been like to write without an audience during the pandemic. He also remembers the time a song about a kookaburra made him consider cutting ties with his family — click here to read Laugh, Kookaburra, the story he wrote about that incident.

Then, New York Times columnist Nicholas Kristof has accused Canada of allowing the Montreal-based website Pornhub to profit from horrific and illegal content, including sexual assault and underage victims. We talk to Kristof and Signy Arnason, associate executive director of the Canadian Centre for Child Protection, and Minister of Canadian Heritage Steven Guilbeault responds to the concerns.

Full Episode Transcript