"Scientifically, it is highly likely that the immune response by this vaccine also can deal with the new virus variant," BioNTech CEO Ugur Sahin said Tuesday.

Several European nations, including Belgium, Bulgaria, France, Germany and Italy, announced travel restrictions from the U.K., where officials say a new variant of the coronavirus is spreading.

As the New Year's Eve deadline approaches, the two sides are still trying to negotiate a deal to avert major economic and trade disruptions. Here are some of the top issues at play.

The unanimous judgment represents a stinging reversal for climate activists, who had won a lower-court ruling earlier this year against the major international hub on environmental grounds.

Amid a spike in new cases, leaders in Germany, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic have announced the return of strict measures to dissuade people from attending large holiday gatherings.

"Donors will no longer be asked to declare if they have had sex with another man, making the criteria for blood donation gender neutral and more inclusive," the National Health Service explains.

Two National Health Service workers with long histories of severe allergies received the Pfizer, BioNTech coronavirus vaccine Tuesday. Both are now recovering after bad reactions to the dose.

A 90-year-old woman from Coventry received the first vaccine shot as part of the United Kingdom's nationwide immunization campaign launched Tuesday.

The U.K. was the first Western country to approve Pfizer's coronavirus vaccine for emergency use. In the U.S., the Food and Drug Administration could vote to approve the vaccine as early as Thursday.

Mass vaccinations will start less than a week after the U.K. approved the new drug. Welsh First Minister Mark Drakeford says it could start "a long path back to normality."

A British regulatory agency approved the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine Wednesday. It could be dispersed within days to the neediest people, government officials said.

Harry Dunn's family argued the U.K. government had wrongly granted Anne Sacoolas diplomatic immunity. Sacoolas, the wife of a U.S. diplomat, is charged in his death but fled to the U.S.

Shamima Begum, now 21, left London with two other schoolgirls in 2015 to join the terrorist organization and is now in a detention camp in Syria. The U.K. revoked her citizenship last year.

"The epidemic is doubling roughly every seven days," the U.K.'s top science adviser says, warning of a dangerously high rate of new coronavirus cases.

The report by Parliament's Intelligence and Security Committee said government did little to find out if Russia tried to influence the Brexit referendum. "They did not want to know," a lawmaker said.