Reuters Health News Summary

When asked about her Christmas plans, the rail-thin 43-year-old said through a face mask, "to try to avoid it." Then she burst into tears. Pfizer to supply U.S. with 100 million more COVID-19 shots by July Pfizer Inc will supply the United States with 100 million additional doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by July next year, the U.S. drugmaker said on Wednesday.

Following is a summary of current health news briefs. What you need to know about the coronavirus right now

Here's what you need to know about the coronavirus right now: UK coronavirus variant likely found in Hong Kong as city secures vaccine supplies Explainer-U.S. vaccine rollout's next challenge: Verifying who is 'essential'

As U.S. industries push for their workers to receive early access to COVID-19 vaccines, local health departments and pharmacies face the challenge of verifying the identity of essential workers to ensure no one cuts the line. The vaccination campaign under way is now focused on hospital staff and nursing homes, tightly controlled environments where verification is relatively simple. But beginning in January or February, Americans employed in a range of industries will be eligible for innoculation, provided they are essential frontline workers. Production and delivery challenges set up turbulent Year of the Vaccine

As 2020 closes, regulatory approval of COVID-19 vaccines has raised hopes the world can defeat the pandemic next year. But production and delivery challenges suggest beating the disease will be a marathon whose finish line is still far away. Europe on Monday followed Britain and the United States in giving a green light to a COVID-19 vaccine from Pfizer and its partner BioNTech which, like a similar shot from Moderna that has U.S. emergency approval, demonstrated 95% efficacy in large trials. In pandemic America's tent cities, a grim future grows darker

Nadeen Bender stood outside her home, a tattered two-man tent, surrounded by the re-purposed Amazon Prime boxes she uses to store her life's belongings. One by one, she checked the cartons to make sure nothing had been stolen in the night. When asked about her Christmas plans, the rail-thin 43-year-old said through a face mask, "to try to avoid it." Then she burst into tears.

Pfizer to supply U.S. with 100 million more COVID-19 shots by July Pfizer Inc will supply the United States with 100 million additional doses of its COVID-19 vaccine by July next year, the U.S. drugmaker said on Wednesday. The agreement brings the total number of doses to be delivered to the United States to 200 million, allowing for 100 million people to be vaccinated.

Russia halts uptake of new volunteers in Sputnik V vaccine trial - TASS Russa's Health Ministry said on Wednesday it was halting the uptake of new volunteers in its main trial of the Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, the TASS news agency reported. The ministry said it had already vaccinated more than 31,000 volunteers as part of the Moscow-based trial, a quarter of whom received placebos.

Merck in supply deal with U.S. government for its COVID-19 treatment Merck & Co said on Wednesday it will supply about 60,000-100,000 doses of its COVID-19 treatment to the U.S. government for up to about $356 million. The agreement will help support advanced development and large-scale manufacturing of Merck's investigational therapeutic MK-7110 to treat hospitalized patients with severe or critical COVID-19, The U.S. Department of the Health and Human Services said.

Irish cabinet restricts movements after minister contracts COVID-19 All members of Ireland's cabinet are restricting their movements while awaiting COVID-19 tests after an unnamed minister contracted the virus, the government said in a statement on Wednesday. Ireland has one of the lowest incidence rates of COVID-19 in Europe but cases are now rising at a rate of 10% a day after a sudden surge that health chiefs say represents a third wave of infections.

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