The UK has become the first country in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for use and said that it will be rolled out from early next week.

Back home, the Taoiseach has said that a national Covid-19 vaccination strategy and implementation plan will be ready for consideration by the Government in nine days’ time.

Social welfare recipients are set to receive additional payments totalling half a billion euro over the next fortnight in Christmas bonus and Pandemic Unemployment Payment arrears, according to the Department of Social Protection.

A new study by the Economic and Social Research Institute (ESRI) has shown that men occupy the majority of senior positions in the Civil Service but are more likely than women to believe there is gender bias in promotional competitions.

The Examiner reports that staff at Tusla have been subjected to online abuse, including death threats and having their children’s photos posted online with offensive comments.

A leading investment firm has advocated for people nearing retirement to be incentivised to defer taking their State pension. The statement came as the Fiscal Council warned that the cost of pensions and healthcare for the elderly is likely to cost the exchequer an additional €850m a year from 2021 onwards.

The Government will be warned, at an Oireachtas meeting today, that the tourism sector faces a “rapid acceleration” in insolvencies after Christmas as the impact of the pandemic continues to place severe pressure on businesses. 

A  new law to ban online harassment will be known as ‘Coco’s Law’ in memory of a 21-year-old girl who took her own life after she was bullied on social media. Read more on that here.  

And finally, the Greens have admitted that progress on climate action has slowed since the party entered Government five months ago.

Our zen this morning is that of a wholesome nature. It tells the story a man called Jeff who built a veggie garden for a groundhog called Chunk, who had been helping himself to his carrots. See more on that here. 

Have a good day folks.