Health News Roundup: Interpol warns that COVID-19 vaccines could be targeted by criminals; WHO tightens guidelines on mask-wearing in COVID-19 areas and more

In world first, UK approves Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine Britain approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, jumping ahead of the United States and Europe to become the West's first country to formally endorse a jab it said should reach the most vulnerable people early next week.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

In world first, UK approves Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine

Britain approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine on Wednesday, jumping ahead of the United States and Europe to become the West's first country to formally endorse a jab it said should reach the most vulnerable people early next week. Prime Minister Boris Johnson touted the medicine authority's approval as a global win and a ray of hope amid the gloom of the novel coronavirus which has killed nearly 1.5 million people globally, hammered the world economy and upended normal life.

Austrian schools, shops to reopen, as lockdown eases, ski opening looms

Austrian shops and primary schools will reopen on Monday when the country's current lockdown eases, and skiing will be allowed as of Dec. 24, Chancellor Sebastian Kurz said on Wednesday. His government said in a statement that until Jan. 10 anyone arriving from a country with more than 100 cases per 100,000 people in the past two weeks will have to go into quarantine. That covers nations including Italy and Germany and makes short ski holidays for people from those countries almost impossible.

Interpol warns that COVID-19 vaccines could be targeted by criminals

The Interpol global police co-ordination agency warned on Wednesday that organised criminal networks could be targeting COVID-19 vaccines, and could look to sell fake shots. Interpol, which is headquartered in France, said it had issued a global alert to law enforcement across its 194 member countries, warning them to prepare for organised crime networks targeting COVID-19 vaccines, both physically and online.

WHO tightens guidelines on mask-wearing in COVID-19 areas

People living in areas with where COVID-19 is spreading should always wear masks in shops, workplaces and schools that lack adequate ventilation, the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Wednesday. If they cannot maintain physical distancing of at least one meter (3 ft), people in those indoor locations - including children and students aged 12 or over - should also wear a mask even if the spaces are well ventilated, it said in a tightening of its guidelines.

U.S. says ready for immediate domestic shipment of COVID-19 vaccines

The U.S. Transportation Department said Tuesday it has made preparations to enable the "immediate mass shipment" of COVID-19 vaccines and completed all necessary regulatory measures. The department said U.S. agencies have been coordinating with private sector companies that will carry vaccines from manufacturing facilities to distribution centers and inoculation points.

Poland signs contract for 45 million coronavirus vaccine doses, PM says

Poland has signed a contract for 45 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, which will be free, Poland's Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki said on Wednesday. "Poland has signed the required contracts. We have ordered 45 million doses with companies like Pfizer, BionTech, AstraZeneca and Johnson and Johnson and we are ready to sign further contracts," Morawiecki said during a news conference in the city of Lodz.

U.S. plans for first COVID vaccines as pandemic deaths surge again

Top U.S. health officials announced plans on Tuesday to begin vaccinating Americans against the coronavirus as early as mid-December, as nationwide deaths hit the highest number for a single day in six months. Some 20 million people could be inoculated against COVID-19 by the end of 2020 and most Americans will have access to highly effective vaccines by mid-2021, the chief adviser of President Donald Trump's Operation Warp Speed program said.

Italy's health minister hopes first COVID-19 vaccines can start in January

Italy will launch a huge, free coronavirus vaccination programme early next year, Health Minister Roberto Speranza said on Wednesday, as the government readies restrictions to avoid a surge in infections during the winter holidays. "We finally see land, we have a clear route to a safe harbour... It seems likely that from January we will have the first vaccines," he told the upper house Senate.

COVID vaccinations in Germany will take over a year - expert panel head

It will take until 2022 to vaccinate the whole population of Germany against COVID-19 due to capacity limits, according to the head of an expert panel that will help decide in which order people should receive the vaccine. "If you can administer shots on 150,000 to 200,000 people a day, so on five or six days a week -- assuming vaccines are available and people are willing to be vaccinated -- then you can calculate how long it will take," Thomas Mertens, head of STIKO, Germany's expert panel on vaccine use, told Rheinische Post.

FDA chief Hahn says mid-December vaccine approval just 'possible': ABC News

U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Stephen Hahn said on Tuesday it was "possible" the agency could approve Pfizer Inc's COVID-19 vaccine by mid-December if everything falls into place, but that it may take longer. When asked in an ABC News interview whether a vaccine could be available days or weeks after a planned Dec. 10 meeting in which FDA expert advisers will recommend for or against approval, Hahn said, "it's hard to predict and I want to set the appropriate expectations."

(With inputs from agencies.)