Why it matters: New York is the fourth state to confirm a case of the variant, which is believed to be at least 50% more contagious. Colorado, California and Florida have also reported cases.
U.K. Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced on Monday that England will enter a six-week lockdown, as the spread of a highly contagious new coronavirus variant threatens to overwhelm the National Health Service.
Why it matters: It's England's third national lockdown, following the initial March restrictions during the start of the pandemic and a four-week "circuit-breaker" in November.
Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon said on Monday that Scotland would enter a month-long lockdown beginning at midnight, as a highly infectious COVID-19 variant continues to spread rapidly throughout the United Kingdom.
Why it matters: Sturgeon warned that rising infections are putting "significant pressure" on the National Health Service, and that hospitals could reach capacity in three to four weeks. As a result, people must legally stay at home and work from home when possible.
Part of the reason experts are so willing to shake up the vaccine process is a new, more contagious strain of the virus that's spreading around the world.
Why it matters: There's no evidence so far that the mutation makes people any sicker. But if it's more contagious, that means more people getting sick, a certain portion of which will require care from the already-strained health care system.
The vaccine rollout is not going as planned so far, and has run headfirst into resource shortages and staffing issues caused by the raging pandemic.
Why it matters: The Trump administration's goal of vaccinating 20 million people by the end of year fell drastically short, raising concerns about how long it may be until enough people are vaccinated in the U.S. for life to return to normal.
Failing to put the most vulnerable Americans at the front of the line for coronavirus vaccines will exacerbate the gaping racial and ethnic disparities that have characterized the pandemic, experts say.
Why it matters: The Americans most vulnerable to the virus are disproportionately people of color. And there are a lot of reasons to doubt that vulnerable people will actually end up getting their shots first, despite some efforts to make that happen.
Israel has administered more COVID-19 vaccinations than any other nation, with over 1 million people receiving jabs — a rate of 12.59 doses per 100 people, new data from an Oxford University-run tracking site shows.
Why it matters: As countries like the U.S. fall behind on immunization goals, Israel has given coronavirus doses to over 10% of its population of 9.2 million since it began administering Pfizer/BioNTech's vaccine on Dec. 19.
India announced Sunday that it's granted emergency approval to COVID-19 vaccines developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University and one from the state-run institute Bharat Biotech.
Why it matters: These are the first vaccines granted emergency approval in the country of over 1.3 billion, which has the second largest virus outbreak after the U.S. Indian officials plan to start a huge immunization drive within a week.
