Health News Roundup: Dubai to begin inoculations with Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from Wednesday; Pfizer nears deal with U.S. government to supply additional COVID-19 vaccine doses and more

Reuters reported last week that 27-year-old Nepali worker Yubaraj Khadka was fired after raising concerns about the lack of social distancing at the factories. U.S. will not impose COVID-19 screenings for flights from Britain - sources The U.S. government does not intend to impose COVID-19 screenings for passengers traveling from Britain after the emergence of a highly infectious new coronavirus variant there, people briefed on the decision said.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs.

Dubai to begin inoculations with Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine from Wednesday

Dubai will start inoculating people with the COVID-19 vaccine produced by Pfizer and BioNTech for free from Wednesday, the emirate's government said, joining Saudi Arabia which last week became the first Arab country to begin using this vaccine. The move comes after the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Bahrain earlier this month rolled out a vaccine developed by China National Pharmaceutical Group (Sinopharm) to the general public.

Pfizer nears deal with U.S. government to supply additional COVID-19 vaccine doses - NYT

Pfizer Inc is close to striking a deal with the U.S. government to supply at least tens of millions of additional doses of its COVID-19 vaccine candidate next year in exchange for a government directive giving it better access to manufacturing supplies, the New York Times reported on Tuesday. An agreement could be announced as early as Wednesday, the newspaper reported https://www.nytimes.com/2020/12/22/us/pfizer-vaccine-trump-administration.html, citing people familiar with the discussions.

U.S. sues Walmart saying pharmacies fueled opioid crisis, retailer rejects allegations The U.S. Justice Department sued Walmart Inc on Tuesday, accusing the world's biggest retailer of fueling the opioid crisis in the United States, ignoring warning signs from its pharmacists and filling thousands of invalid prescriptions. In a civil lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Delaware, the government said Walmart failed to take its gatekeeping duties as a pharmacy seriously, allegations the company rejected.

'My second life': California nurse walks out of hospital after 8-month COVID-19 ordeal As a veteran ICU nurse whose job is to care for the most critically ill patients at her hospital in Long Beach, California, Merlin Pambuan was well aware of the deadly ravages COVID-19 can inflict on the human body. Last spring in a tragic role reversal, Pambuan became one of those patients - admitted to the intensive care unit of St. Mary Medical Center, her workplace for the past 40 years, where she was rendered unconscious by paralysis-inducing sedation and placed on a ventilator to breathe. A feeding tube was later added.

U.S. CDC reports 318,569 total deaths from coronavirus The U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Tuesday reported 17,974,303 cases of new coronavirus, an increase of 183,927 cases from its previous count, and said the number of deaths had risen by 1,725 to 318,569. The CDC reported its tally of cases of the respiratory illness known as COVID-19 as of 4 p.m. ET on Dec. 21 versus its previous report a day earlier.(https://bit.ly/31Dqz4H)

AstraZeneca says its vaccine should be effective against new coronavirus variant British drugmaker AstraZeneca Plc told Reuters on Tuesday its COVID-19 vaccine should be effective against the new coronavirus variant, adding that studies were under way to fully probe the impact of the mutation. "AZD1222 (AstraZeneca's vaccine candidate) contains the genetic material of the SARS-CoV-2 virus spike protein, and the changes to the genetic code seen in this new viral strain do not appear to change the structure of the spike protein," an AstraZeneca representative said in an email.

Malaysia's Top Glove says will no longer fire whistleblowers; opens helplines for workers Malaysia's Top Glove Corp Bhd, site of the country's biggest virus outbreak of more than 5,000 cases, said on Wednesday that whistleblowers will no longer face termination and three helplines for worker complaints had been established. Reuters reported last week that 27-year-old Nepali worker Yubaraj Khadka was fired after raising concerns about the lack of social distancing at the factories.

U.S. will not impose COVID-19 screenings for flights from Britain - sources The U.S. government does not intend to impose COVID-19 screenings for passengers traveling from Britain after the emergence of a highly infectious new coronavirus variant there, people briefed on the decision said. White House coronavirus task force members backed requiring negative pre-flight tests after a meeting on Monday, but the Trump administration has decided not to take any action for the time being, the people said.

France to reopen border with England for COVID-clear travellers France will reopen its borders to passengers from England on Wednesday, ending a blockade intended to stop the spread of a new coronavirus variant, but which has held up thousands of lorries before Christmas. Much of the world shut its borders to Britain after a significantly more transmissible mutated coronavirus variant was discovered spreading swiftly across southern England.

U.S. under siege from COVID-19 as hospitals overwhelmed before holidays Americans were warned again on Tuesday not to travel for Christmas as the latest COVID-19 surge left hospitals struggling to find beds for the sick and political leaders imposed restrictions to try to curb new infections, making for a grim holiday season. A new, even more contagious variant of the coronavirus quickly spreading across Britain caused more fear in Americans already weary from nine months of the pandemic and prompted talks among top U.S. officials to ban travel from the United Kingdom