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It’s always good for consumers to have options, right? And indeed, the United States should soon have three Covid-19 vaccines being injected into people’s arms, with more potentially on the way in the coming months, accelerating the race to vaccinate hundreds of millions of people as quickly as possible. (Joseph and Goldhill, 1/29)

At first glance, the results reported on Friday from the long-awaited trial of Johnson & Johnson’s coronavirus vaccine might have seemed disappointing. Its overall efficacy — the ability to prevent moderate and severe disease — was reported at 72 percent in the United States, 66 percent in Latin American countries and 57 percent in South Africa. ... But researchers warn that trying to compare effectiveness between new studies and earlier ones may be misleading, because the virus is evolving quickly and to some extent the trials have studied different pathogens. (Grady, 1/29)

Many people who’ve been boning up on efficacy rates, dosing schedules or side effects want to decide for themselves. If the options are a shot from a Western drugmaker that’s been vetted by an independent regulator or one from a Russian or Chinese lab with lesser transparency, that desire is even greater. “We demand the government to provide people the freedom of choice,” said Gergely Arato, a member of the opposition Democratic Coalition party in Hungary. Hungary broke ranks with other EU members to approve Russia’s Sputnik V and a vaccine from China’s Sinopharm Group Ltd. alongside the three shots cleared by Europe’s drug regulator -- from Pfizer Inc., Moderna Inc. and AstraZeneca. While Prime Minister Viktor Orban is technically offering choice, his promotion of the Chinese and Russian shots is endangering people’s “willingness to get vaccinated,” Arato said at a press conference this month. (Loh, 1/31)

Efforts to disseminate Covid-19 vaccines as widely as possible are hitting an unexpected obstacle: health-care workers who decline the shots. Officials from Ohio said recently that 60% of nursing-home staff so far haven’t elected to take the vaccine. In New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo said this month that state officials expect 30% of health-care workers offered the vaccine will ultimately turn it down. Two-thirds of the staff at a Florida hospital refused the vaccine this month, leaving so many unused doses that the facility started giving away shots to the general public. (Wernau, 1/31)

Health care providers scrambling to build trust in Covid-19 vaccines are amassing a digital army to win over skeptics, enlisting everyone from faith leaders to social media stars to promote confidence in the shots — especially in hard-to-reach communities. ... Local health care leaders said they are purposefully eschewing big-name celebrities or splashy PR campaigns. Instead, they are aiming to pull in a broad range of voices, including many who don’t boast of huge online followings but hold sway in their communities. Many of the campaigns target communities of color who have been especially devastated by the coronavirus but are also more hesitant to get vaccinated. For those with limited internet access, they’re hosting informational phone conferences with doctors and nurses who patients already are likely to know. (Ravindranath, 1/30)

Imagine a future when a single document determines whether you work, play or travel. That scenario – a system of “immunity certification” that grants privileges to those vaccinated against the COVID-19 virus – is now being deliberated by a growing number of global businesses and governments, anxious to control the disease and also restore the economy. The debate comes at a time when millions of people, slowly but surely, are getting vaccinated and are restless to return to their pre-pandemic lives. Yet many millions of others are forced to wait. “People are starting to ask: ‘Why should I be subject to restrictions if I don’t actually pose a risk to other people?'” said David Studdert, a professor of medicine and law at Stanford University.  “One way or another, it seems like ‘immunity certification’ is coming our way.” (Krieger, 1/31)