1 February 2021

• Globally, over 98.3 million vaccine doses have been administered. Source
Lancet issues a pre-print analysis of data from 17,177 people who participated in trials of the AstraZeneca/Oxford coronavirus vaccine. After the first dose of the vaccine (from day 22 until day 90), efficacy among people ages 18-55 was 76 percent. Effectiveness of the second dose increased when there was a longer interval between doses, reaching 82.4 percent after 12 plus weeks versus 54.9 percent at less than six weeks between doses. Overall efficacy of the vaccine among people who got both standard doses and a low-dose/standard dose regimen was 66.7 percent, but this may be due to the longer dosing interval rather than the vaccine dose given. The authors noted that the infection rate, as measured by positive PCR testing (which could identify COVID-19 among people without symptoms), decreased by 54.1 percent, supporting the potential for vaccination to reduce coronavirus transmission. Source
• The US CDC reports that just over half of US states report data on race/ethnicity among people vaccinated for coronavirus. During the period between 14 December 2020 and 14 January 2021 – and despite the disproportionate impact of COVID-19 on Black and Latinx people. – only 11 percent of those vaccinated were Hispanic/Latino people and only 5.4 were Black; only 6 percent were Asian. Source
• A pre-print article reports that people who have recovered from COVID-19 mount robust immune responses that are 10 to 20 times higher than among uninfected people after one dose of an mRNA vaccine. Source
• A pre-print article notes that previously infected healthcare workers had significantly greater antibody responses to a single dose of mRNA vaccine than uninfected healthcare workers, suggesting that a single dose may be sufficient. Source
• Bayer AG agrees to produce CureVac’s experimental mRNA coronavirus vaccine – which entered phase II/III in December 2020 – by the end of 2021; it is expecting to produce 160 million doses in 2022. Source
• Moderna seeks FDA permission to increase the number of coronavirus vaccine doses per vial from 10 to 15 to boost supplies in the US. Source
• After facing criticism for withholding coronavirus vaccines from Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza, Israel sends 2,000 doses of the Moderna vaccine to the Palestinian Authority. Source
• Tunisia grants emergency use authorization for the Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine. Source

Return to the timeline