Coronavirus updates: US reports nearly 300,000 new cases in all-time high
A staggering 299,087 new cases were confirmed over the past 24 hours.
A pandemic of the novel coronavirus has now infected more than 84.6 million people worldwide and killed over 1.8 million of them, according to real-time data compiled by the Center for Systems Science and Engineering at Johns Hopkins University.
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UK grants emergency authorization for AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine
A COVID-19 vaccine created by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford has been approved for emergency use in the United Kingdom.
Roll out will begin Jan 4, Health Secretary Matt Hancock said.
The U.K. Department of Health and Social care announced that it has accepted the recommendation from the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) to authorize the vaccine for use.
"This follows rigorous clinical trials and a thorough analysis of the data by experts at the MHRA, which has concluded that the vaccine has met its strict standards of safety, quality and effectiveness," the Department of Health and Social care said in a press release.
It is the second vaccine approved for use in the U.K. following the rollout of the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine.
The National Health Service will prioritize giving the first doses of the newly approved vaccine to those in the most high-risk groups.
The vaccine will be given in two doses, with four to 12 weeks between doses, the U.K.-based pharmaceutical company said.
US sees record hospitalizations
COVID-19 hospitalizations have hit a record high in the U.S.
There are 124,686 people currently hospitalized, according to the COVID Tracking Project.
There were also 194,512 new cases and 3,283 deaths reported on Tuesday, though the tracker noted that there are delays in both figures due to the holidays.
"Current hospitalizations remains our most stable state-reported metric during holiday disruptions, and it will be our best guide to reality until states work through all Christmas + New Year’s backlogs," it said.
HHS pushes 20 million vaccine dose prediction to January
The U.S. Dept. of Health and Human Services revised its earlier expectation that 20 million coronavirus vaccine doses would be administered by Christmas, the agency said in a statement Tuesday.
It now expects to hit 20 million vaccines into the first week of January, an Operation Warp Speed spokesperson said in a statement.
"These doses are being distributed at states’ direction to the American people as quickly as they are available and releasable," OWS spokesman Michael Pratt said in a statement.
Pratt added that the lag in reporting vaccination doses administered is expected.
-ABC News' Anne Flaherty contributed to this report.
Texas hits new records for daily cases, hospitalizations
Texas broke records for daily cases and hospitalizations on Tuesday, according to the state's health department.
The state recorded 26,990 news cases and 49 new deaths, the health department said. There were 11,775 hospitalized statewide and Texas had 653 available intensive care unit beds, according to the health data.
The new cases were announced on the same day it was revealed that only 163,700 of the 611,850 vaccine doses received by the state have been administered so far. Gov. Greg Abbott previously said he expected to receive 1.4 million doses by the end of the year.
Texas Health Commissioner Dr. John Hellerstedt said in a statement that no vaccine should be kept in reserve.
"All providers that have received COVID-19 vaccine must immediately vaccinate healthcare workers, Texans over the age of 65, and people with medical conditions that put them at a greater risk of severe disease or death from COVID-19," he said in a statement.
-ABC News' Gina Sunseri contributed to this report.
England's health agency says it does not recommend mixing COVID-19 vaccines
Public Health England does not recommend mixing COVID-19 vaccines from different suppliers, according to the agency's head of immunizations, Dr. Mary Ramsay.
"We do not recommend mixing the COVID-19 vaccines -- if your first dose is the Pfizer vaccine you should not be given the AstraZeneca vaccine for your second dose and vice versa," Ramsay said in a statement Saturday. "There may be extremely rare occasions where the same vaccine is not available, or where it is not known what vaccine the patient received. Every effort should be made to give them the same vaccine, but where this is not possible it is better to give a second dose of another vaccine than not at all."
The clarification comes amid questions over the British government's updated guidance on COVID-19 vaccines, which now says that if individuals who received the first shot go to an immunization site where that same vaccine is not available for a second shot, or if the first vaccine received is unknown, "it is reasonable to offer one dose of the locally available product to complete the schedule."
"This option is preferred if the individual is likely to be at immediate high risk or is considered unlikely to attend again," the guidance adds.
The guidance, which was updated Thursday, also notes that "there is no evidence on the interchangeability of the COVID-19 vaccines although studies are underway," and thus "every effort should be made to determine which vaccine the individual received and to complete with the same vaccine."
Next week, the United Kingdom is set to begin distribution of a COVID-19 vaccine developed by England's University of Oxford and manufactured by British-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, after the drug was approved Wednesday for emergency supply. Another COVID-19 vaccine developed by U.S. pharmaceutical giant Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech was approved in the U.K. on Dec. 2 and rollout began a week later.
ABC News' Zoe Magee contributed to this report.