Johnson & Johnson applied for emergency authorization from U.S. regulators for its single-shot vaccine.
The F.D.A. is preparing a plan if vaccines prove less effective against new variants.
Researchers found that the AstraZeneca vaccine was protective against the coronavirus variant first seen in Britain.
Get the latest updates here, as well as maps and vaccines in development.

The era of Covid TV

Last year, when television writers reconvened to script the next season of shows, they were faced with a major dilemma: Should they incorporate the virus or not?

If they ignored the pandemic, they might offer an escape from reality, but could lose touch with their audiences. If they wrote the virus in, they would be able to tap into a universal experience, but ran the risk of exhausting viewers in a time of widespread pandemic fatigue.

Now we’re seeing the results of those discussions, writes my colleague Alexis Soloski, who covers culture for The Times.

Most sitcoms, especially newer ones, kept the pandemic out of their shows, with an eye toward reruns. Chuck Lorre, the creator of “The Big Bang Theory” and “Mom,” said he didn’t like heavy time stamps in his shows. “A reason to avoid pandemics and bell bottoms,” he said.

But other comedies didn’t have that luxury — like “Superstore,” which follows the lives of characters who are essential workers. One of the series’s showrunners felt a responsibility to show the pandemic’s impact on retail employees and “felt like it actually might be distracting if it was business as usual.”

Many hospital dramas took the pandemic head-on. “The Good Doctor” and “The Resident” both addressed the virus in their season premieres, but then fast-forwarded to virus-free futures. “Grey’s Anatomy,” on the other hand, has spent its whole season battling the pandemic, with several lead characters falling ill.

Committing to pandemic plots can be difficult, and not just because you have to move scenes outdoors or adjust plot lines. Pandemic-era verisimilitude requires a lot of mask wearing, which is not great for close-ups and what a lot of showrunners refer to as “face acting.”

“There’s a lot to be said for validating a shared and awful experience, even with commercial breaks,” Alex writes. “The shows that persevere will be holding our hands — metaphorically, because actual hand-holding is a terrible idea right now — mirroring our reality and helping us endure it, case by case, laugh by laugh, mask by mask.”
Super Bowl safety

It’s Super Bowl weekend, and ahead of the big game, public health officials are asking people not to host big parties that could turn into super-spreader events.

Dr. Anthony Fauci urged people to watch the game at home, pointing to coronavirus spikes that followed celebrations and holidays like Christmas and New Year’s. “You don’t want parties with people that you haven’t had much contact with,” he said this week. “You just don’t know if they’re infected, so as difficult as that is, at least this time around, just lay low and cool it.”

The game, a highly anticipated matchup between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and the Kansas City Chiefs at Tampa Bay’s Raymond James Stadium in Florida, will be very different. The stadium will be only about one-third full, with about 7,500 of the 25,000 seats filled by vaccinated health care workers. All 25,000 or so attendees will be given masks and hand sanitizer as they enter.

The Weeknd is headlining the halftime show, but for the first time in the 55-year history of the game, the main act will perform on a stage set up in the stands under strict coronavirus protocols intended to limit contact with the players and coaches.

If you still want to celebrate, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention recommends hosting a virtual Super Bowl party or an outdoor gathering — although even outside it’s important to wear masks the entire time (except when eating).

The C.D.C. also said to try to avoid shouting, cheering loudly or singing around people from outside of your household, which can increase the amount of respiratory droplets in the air. Instead, clap, stomp your feet or use noisemakers. If you attend a gathering, the agency recommends bringing your own food, drinks, plates, cups and utensils.

One team is virus free. During the N.F.L.’s season, more than 700 players, coaches and other team personnel tested positive for the coronavirus. Only the Seattle Seahawks remained untouched by the virus. How did they do it?
Vaccine rollout

In the United States, “vaccine hunters” are crossing state lines in search of doses. And the Pentagon will deploy over a thousand active-duty troops to assist at vaccination sites, while many people at long-term-care facilities are still waiting for their first dose.
New York will allow people with some chronic health conditions access to vaccines starting on Feb. 15.
Britain reported that the coronavirus vaccines being distributed there were as safe as predicted in clinical trials.
Pfizer has withdrawn its application for emergency-use authorization of its vaccine in India after meeting with regulators from the country.
Researchers and State Department officials said that Russian news outlets connected to the Kremlin ran disingenuous Spanish-language stories targeting vaccines made in the United States and Europe.

What else we’re following

The House gave final approval to a budget plan including President Biden’s $1.9 trillion stimulus package, fast tracking the process.
New studies suggest that the novel coronavirus also has a propensity to mix large chunks of its genome when it makes copies of itself, which may allow it to shape-shift in dangerous ways.
The Wisconsin Legislature repealed the state’s mask mandate, so the governor issued another.
Indiana caught up with hundreds of Covid-19 deaths that had gone uncounted, adding 1,507 to the official tally this week.
Nearly a year after New Zealand closed its borders to noncitizens, the country said it would begin admitting some refugees.
The New York Times