There are now 20 vaccines in phase 3 trials, eight approved for limited use, and two approved for

There are now 20 vaccines in phase 3 trials, eight approved for limited use, and two approved for full use in some countries after fully completing phase 3 trials: the vaccines from Pfizer/BioNTech and Sinopharm. (Those from Moderna and Oxford/AstraZeneca are being used with emergency use approval in some countries.)
Right now, there are two big questions when it comes to Covid-19 vaccination. Who is getting vaccinated next, and do the vaccines protect against emerging variants of the virus? As ever, new vaccines are in the works, offering hope that widespread access to vaccination could soon become available to more people around the world.
The U.S. government tells states to vaccinate people 65 and older

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Vaccine rollout in the U.S. remains slow and confusing for many people. Meanwhile, new cases and deaths are soaring. To speed up vaccination, the Trump administration on Tuesday ordered all states to start vaccinating people 65 and older. Many have embraced this as a welcome change as the previous allocation guidelines, which were more restrictive, led many vaccine doses to go to waste. Still, the final decision to vaccinate older adults is being left to state governments, resulting in a patchworked expansion of the vaccination rollout across the country that has left many people feeling confused. The Washington Post also reports that although HHS said it would be releasing Covid-19 vaccine doses held in reserve for second shots, no reserve of vaccines actually existed.
Pfizer says its vaccine works against the new variant
As worrying new variants of the coronavirus spread, many have raised concerns that the available vaccines will not confer protection against them. A welcome bit of good news comes from Pfizer, who on January 8 said that their vaccine protects against a key mutation found in the variant known as B.1.1.7, or the U.K. variant. The research behind the claim is preliminary and hasn’t yet been peer-reviewed, but it shows that the Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine protects against viruses carrying the N501Y mutation, which the B.1.1.7 variant carries. This mutation is also present in multiple other variants, including B.1.351, the so-called South African variant. Writing in the Coronavirus Blog earlier this week, writer Elad Simchayoff called the news a “reason for cautious optimism.”
A long-awaited update from Johnson & Johnson
While the vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna have taken much of the spotlight in the U.S., pharmaceutical giant Johnson & Johnson is also developing a vaccine that could be very meaningful — if it ever gets off the ground. Unlike the other vaccines currently rolling out in the U.S., Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine requires only one dose, not two, which could go a long way in simplifying the muddled rollout in the U.S. On Wednesday, the New York Times reported that the company expects to release the results of its phase 3 trial in two weeks. This good news is tempered by the fact that the company is experiencing manufacturing delays that have left the company two months behind schedule.
Brazil backtracks on its optimistic take on Sinovac
Last week’s vaccine roundup included the news that Brazilian researchers found that the vaccine from China-based Sinovac was 78% effective. This was encouraging news — China has deals with many developing countries to share its vaccine — but critics pointed out that the data supporting the claim had not been released. On Wednesday, Brazil’s researchers backtracked on its claim, citing new data on people with very mild infections that, taken together with the previous data, showed that the vaccine was only 50.4% effective. But, as the BBC reported, the researchers “stressed that the vaccine is 78% effective in preventing mild cases that needed treatment and 100% effective in staving off moderate to serious cases.”