New guidelines take a broad definition of who can apply for a religious exemption to vaccinations. A lot will hinge on what constitutes ‘undue hardship’ to the employer.
High-income countries have already bought up stocks of the leading COVID-19 vaccines for the foreseeable future.
EPA-EFE
Production limits the rate at which vaccines can be rolled out, and is at the heart of the current disagreements between the UK and EU.
Maria Saravia, a worker at the University of Southern California’s Keck Hospital, adjusts her mother’s mask before her COVID-19 vaccination.
Genaro Molina/Los Angeles Times via Getty Images
Getting a vaccine is proving difficult for many older people now, but the mad rush for the vaccine won’t last long. Many people don’t want to get one at all, and that will impede herd immunity.
Israel’s fast-track vaccination programme is providing data for the world on efficacy.
Abir Sultan/EPA
We’ve gone from a novel virus to several COVID-19 vaccines in less than a year. Here’s what we’ve learned from earlier vaccines to allow this to happen.
Vaccines that use harmless viruses as a delivery mechanism are vulnerable to being attacked by our immune system – but experimenting with how they are given could get around this.
Vaccine vials are being carefully stored ahead of being used, to make sure as little goes to waste as possible.
EPA-EFE
History tells us that mass vaccination campaigns are usually messy, while elsewhere, lower-income countries are turning to China, Russia and India for vaccines.
A coronavirus patient arrives at the Royal London Hospital in early January.
Yui Mok/PA Wire
Peter Martin, Crawford School of Public Policy, Australian National University
All sorts of transactions are “two-way value exchanges” in which it isn’t clear in which direction the money should flow. The proposed media bargaining code is one of them.
As vaccination begins to take effect, what we’ll be able to do will change – but the transformation will be slow.
Workers prepare to ship the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine from the company’s manufacturing plant in Kalamazoo, Michigan.
Morry Gash/Pool/AFP via Getty Images
As the coronavirus rages, a vaccine finally is available for certain groups of people and will soon be ready for other groups. But there are plenty of questions. A doctor answers five here.