Reuters Health News Summary

Saudi Arabia, Oman to close borders for one week over new COVID strain Saudi Arabia shut its land and sea borders late on Sunday and suspended international commercial flights for a renewable week over fears of a new coronavirus strain, but foreign flights already in the country can leave, the Interior Ministry said.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. More than 40% of Spaniards willing to get COVID-19 vaccine -survey

The number of Spaniards willing to receive COVID-19 vaccine shots as soon as they become available rose to over 40% in the latest official poll published on Monday, from 37% in a previous survey a month ago. While 28% of respondents in the survey by the Centre for Sociological Studies (CIS) said they would not take the vaccine immediately, that was a sharp drop from 47% in a previous CIS poll published on Nov. 18 that asked the same question. Vatican says use of Covid vaccines made from aborted fetal tissue is ethical

The Vatican told Roman Catholics on Monday that it was morally acceptable for them to use COVID-19 vaccines, even if their production employed cell lines drawn from tissues of aborted fetuses. A note from the Vatican's doctrinal congregation, the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, said the use of such vaccines was permitted as long as there were no alternatives. Factbox-Europe's plans to vaccinate against COVID-19

Europe's medicines regulator was on Monday assessing the COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S. company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech, and a green light would put Europe on course to start inoculations within a week. If clearance is granted by the European Medicines Agency (EMA), the final hurdle is approval by the European Commission, which would be expected to follow by Wednesday. Sacklers cited fear of OxyContin lawsuits before transferring $10 billion from their company, documents show

Members of the wealthy Sackler family, owners of OxyContin maker Purdue Pharma LP, have long denied that the $10 billion they transferred from their company over the course of a decade was an unlawful attempt to shield assets in anticipation of litigation over their role in the opioid crisis. But a review of emails, memos, depositions, legal motions and other documents unsealed late on Friday in Purdue's bankruptcy proceedings show Sackler family members discussed potential litigation exposure at least as early as 2007, a full decade before they faced a new wide-ranging legal attack and significant financial transfers stopped. The documents were unsealed in response to legal actions from Reuters and other news organizations seeking to remove their heavy redactions. France's Macron still displays COVID-19 symptoms -govt spokesman

French President Emmanuel Macron was still displaying some coronavirus symptoms but his overall condition was stable, government spokesman Gabriel Attal told reporters on Monday. Macron, 43, has tested positive for COVID-19 on Thursday and has gone into quarantine at the presidential retreat of La Lanterne, close to the Palace of Versailles. U.S. COVID-19 vaccination drive heads to nursing homes

The U.S. government and two of the nation's largest pharmacy chains kick off a nationwide campaign to vaccinate nursing home residents against COVID-19 on Monday, a week after the first vaccines authorized in the country began being administered to healthcare workers. The program is the latest effort to control a pandemic that has killed more than 300,000 people in the country and is straining the capacity of healthcare systems in some states. Biden to receive coronavirus vaccine on Monday as U.S. inoculation effort mounts

U.S. President-elect Joe Biden plans to publicly receive a COVID-19 vaccine injection on Monday in an effort to boost confidence in its safety ahead of its wide distribution next year. Biden has vowed to make the fight against the coronavirus, which has killed more than 300,000 Americans and infected more than 17 million, his top priority when he takes office on Jan. 20. At age 78, he is in the high-risk group for the highly contagious respiratory disease. Inside J&J's Latam COVID vaccine trial, a rush to recruit is followed by disappointment

Earlier this month, Johnson & Johnson abruptly called for an end to enrollment in its coronavirus vaccine trial and told scientists from six Latin American countries to wrap up their work within 48 hours, two researchers told Reuters. The halt was due to J&J's decision, announced later on that same day on Dec. 9, to cap the number of participants at about 40,000 people globally, down from a previous plan for 60,000. World closes borders to Britain as new coronavirus strain breeds panic

More countries closed their borders to Britain on Monday over fears of a highly infectious new coronavirus strain, heightening global panic, causing travel chaos and raising the prospect of UK food shortages just days before the Brexit cliff edge. India, Poland, Switzerland, Russia and Hong Kong suspended travel for Britons after Prime Minister Boris Johnson warned that a mutated variant of the virus up to 70% more infectious had been identified in the country, while Japan and South Korea said they were monitoring the situation. Saudi Arabia, Oman to close borders for one week over new COVID strain

Saudi Arabia shut its land and sea borders late on Sunday and suspended international commercial flights for a renewable week over fears of a new coronavirus strain, but foreign flights already in the country can leave, the Interior Ministry said. Fellow Gulf Arab state Oman will close its land, air and sea borders for one week starting Tuesday, state television reported on Monday.