Live updates: Britain first country to grant emergency approval to Pfizer vaccine as U.S. hospitalizations near 100,000

4 min readDec 2, 2020

Regulators in Britain have granted emergency authorization to the coronavirus vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech. Distribution of the first 800,000 doses will begin next week, with the elderly and nursing home residents receiving first priority, British Health Secretary Matt Hancock said Wednesday.

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In the United States, meanwhile, hospitals are straining under a surge of coronavirus patients with nearly 100,000 hospitalized nationwide on Tuesday. Once vaccines are approved for U.S. use, a federal advisory board has recommended the overstretched health-care workers be given the first doses.

TOKYO — Japan’s parliament passed a law on Wednesday that would make vaccines against covid-19 free of charge and would strongly urge people to take them, officials said.

The revision to existing laws passed by the Upper House of parliament says people are “obliged to make efforts” to receive the coronavirus vaccine, but a Health Ministry official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the vaccine would not be mandatory and there would be no penalty for failing to get a shot.

The law said the government would also pay for treatment If the vaccines are found to cause health problems, public broadcaster NHK reported. It will also compensate drug companies for any damages they have to pay to those who have health problems.

Once approved for use here, Japan’s government says it aims to make covid-19 vaccines available to the entire population by the middle of next year, with health-care workers, the elderly and people with underlying conditions likely to get priority.

It has secured deals with Pfizer, Astra Zeneca and local vaccine developers to supply hundreds of millions of doses of various vaccines, much of them in the first half of 2021. But it will have to deal with a wary public. A global study conducted earlier this year of 140,000 people in 140 countries found Japan among the countries whose populations were most likely to doubt the safety of vaccines.

From coast to coast, transit agencies are planning for layoffs and pared-down service as the coronavirus pandemic decimates budgets and a federal stimulus package remains stalled in Congress.

In New York, the nation’s largest transit system is preparing to cut subway service by 40 percent while it considers a nearly $3 billion loan from the Federal Reserve. Boston is proposing to eliminate ferry service and shorten hours of operation on its rail system.

And in the nation’s capital, Metro on Monday announced plans to eliminate weekend rail service to bridge a nearly $500 million gap in next year’s operating budget — equivalent to one-quarter of what the transit agency typically spends annually to run the system.

The stark vision of the Washington region operating without weekend Metro service for the first time since launching 44 years ago jolted residents, as well as lawmakers who have spent months debating the need and scope of a possible second coronavirus relief package.

Live updates: Britain first country to grant emergency approval to Pfizer vaccine as U.S. hospitalizations near 100,000

Written by sajana nova