THE BIG STORY

Tears, dancing, hope: What it’s like for healthcare workers getting the vaccine

For healthcare workers, it has been an excruciating year of battling on the frontlines of the coronavirus pandemic. This week, hope arrived: Across the country, millions of healthcare workers will be receiving the COVID-19 vaccine.

We spoke to frontline workers who have received the vaccine. They told us all the ways getting vaccinated made them optimistic.

There's the emergency physician in Rhode Island who told us, “I'm not relieved yet, but sometimes just knowing that relief can be coming is enough to give you a second wind.” Or the critical care and infectious disease physician who said, “This is a day where I actually have some hope.”

And here’s something that’ll add joy to your morning: Boston Medical Center workers received the vaccines they’d been waiting for, and came together to dance to Lizzo’s “Good As Hell.” Their dance made so many people emotional.

Healthcare worker Elizabeth Plasencia clasps her hands together after receiving a Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine at the Jackson Memorial Hospital on Dec. 15 in Miami. Joe Raedle / Getty Images

STAYING ON TOP OF THIS

The Trump administration has finalized an agreement to send asylum-seekers to El Salvador to seek protection

The controversial plan to send certain asylum-seekers picked up at the border to El Salvador was initially signed in 2019, but implementation of the deal was delayed.

The move comes at the tail end of the Trump administration’s efforts to restrict asylum at the southern border. Advocates and asylum officers have said the unprecedented plan will lead to immigrants being placed in dangerous circumstances.

It is unclear how quickly the agreement would be implemented and whether the administration will actually invoke it prior to the arrival of President-elect Joe Biden.

SNAPSHOTS

Joe Biden has picked Gina McCarthy to fill a new role as US “climate czar.” McCarthy, former head of the EPA under Obama, has been a vocal opponent of President Trump's environmental policies.

50 children took pictures with a Santa and Mrs. Claus who then tested positive for COVID-19. Officials in Georgia said neither Claus was symptomatic at the time of the event. It was not immediately clear whether the Clauses or the children were wearing masks for the pictures.

A mom influencer went super viral for alleging her kids were almost kidnapped inside a store. Katie Sorensen says a couple tried to kidnap her kids from a Michaels craft store, but police say the account she gave on Instagram differed from the one she told them. Here’s what we know.

A top fashion executive has been arrested for alleged sex trafficking. Canadian fashion mogul Peter Nygård used his empire to target dozens of victims for himself and his associates, US prosecutors said.

The short life and death of a “toxic white progressives” list. A Democratic operative wanted to do something about the workplace racism she knows too well. In less than 24 hours, instead, she got a mess — and a disappointment.

THIS BODES WELL

Facebook says it's developing a tool to read your brain

Reading the details: who needs it! Facebook told employees that it’s developing a tool to summarize news articles so users won’t have to actually read the news.

At the end-of-year company-wide meeting, Facebook also laid out early plans for a neural sensor to detect people’s thoughts and translate them into action, which doesn’t sound alarming at all. We obtained audio of the meeting, which was not public but was broadcast virtually to thousands of employees.

Details of the news summarization tool did not sit well with members of the media who have been frustrated with Facebook’s dominance of online advertising and creation of a platform where news competes against misinformation and untrustworthy sources.

THE YEAR IN READING

What did you read this year?

It’s the year everything changed, including (especially?) reading habits. I found my ability to focus on reading for extended periods of time suffered. Others report they’ve been on a readathon during quarantine, reading more than ever.

We want to know how 2020 changed your reading habits — what books did you read? How did books get you through 2020? Tell us right here.

Revisit the songs that bring you joy today (and send some to me!),

Elamin