Vaccinations against COVID-19 start in UK

Margaret Keenan, 90, is applauded by staff as she returns to her ward after becoming the first person in Britain to receive the Pfizer/BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at University Hospital, at the start of the largest ever immunization program in the British history, in Coventry, Britain, on December 7. Britain is the first country in the world to start vaccinating people with the Pfizer/BioNTech inoculation.SD-Agencies

US nursing homes face vaccine fears

After 110,000 deaths ravaged nursing homes in the United States and pushed them to the front of the vaccine line, they now face a vexing problem: Skeptical residents and workers balking at getting the shots.

Being first has come with persistent fears that the places hit hardest in the pandemic — accounting for nearly 40 percent of the nation’s death toll — could be put at risk again by vaccines sped into development in months rather than years.

Some who live and work in nursing homes question if enough testing was done on the elderly, if enough is known of side effects and if the shots could do more harm than good.

The United States surpassed 15 million coronavirus cases on December 8 — with almost exactly 1 in 22 Americans having tested positive.

EU, UK agree to continue post-Brexit talks

Britain and the European Union are still apart in Brexit trade talks but British Prime Minister Boris Johnson does not want to walk away yet, Business Secretary Alok Sharma said on Monday.

“We will continue discussing, we are of course apart on certain matters but as the prime minister said, we don’t want to walk away from these talks,” Sharma told Sky.

Johnson and European Commission president Ursula von der Leyen had set Sunday as the decisive moment for a breakthrough or breakdown in deadlocked negotiations. But they stepped back from the brink, saying there was too much at stake not to make a final push.

Hundreds missing after Nigeria school attack

Hundreds of students are feared missing after gunmen raided a secondary school in northwestern Nigeria.

The attackers arrived on motorbikes and started shooting into the air, causing people to flee, witnesses said.

They targeted the Government Science Secondary School — where more than 800 students are said to reside — in Katsina state on Friday evening. On Saturday, the military said it had located the gunmen’s hideout in a forest and exchanged gunfire with them.

Facebook must be broken up: US Govt.

Dozens of states and the federal government sued Facebook (FB) on December 9 in twin antitrust lawsuits, alleging that the social media giant has abused its dominance in the digital marketplace and engaged in anticompetitive behavior.

The Federal Trade Commission, in particular, is seeking a permanent injunction in federal court that could, among other things, require the company to divest assets, including Instagram and WhatsApp, effectively breaking up Facebook as we know it. The states are also calling for the company to be broken up, if necessary.

Allergy warning for Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine

People with a “significant history of allergic reactions” should not be given the Pfizer/BioNTech coronavirus vaccine, U.K. health authorities said last week, after two health-care workers experienced symptoms after receiving a shot the day before.

The precautionary advice was given after the pair “responded adversely” following their shots on the first day of the mass vaccination rollout in the United Kingdom, National Health Service England said.(SD-Agencies)