Some coronavirus stuff.

Important developments in the pandemic.

By Ben Guarino  Email The Post's coronavirus coverage linked in this newsletter is free to access from this email.   The latest Johnson & Johnson's vaccine provides a robust defense against severe disease and protects against fatal illness, according to the results of a giant worldwide trial released Friday by the drugmaker.  Unlike the two vaccines already authorized in the United States, the J&J vaccine requires only a single dose. If the Food and Drug Administration gives the go-ahead, having a third option could greatly increase the speed at which vaccinations are distributed across the country. Overall, the vaccine was 85 percent effective at stopping severe illness. In South Africa, though, the protection against illness was somewhat muted, perhaps because of variants there.  A Maryland biotechnology company, Novavax, also said its vaccine was less effective at preventing illness against the variant first identified in South Africa, per data the company provided in a news release Thursday. The European Union's regulatory committee has authorized Oxford-AstraZeneca's coronavirus vaccine, making it the third vaccine available for use in adults. The United States will await further trial data – available study information included few patients over 65 -- before considering authorization.  If protection from a potentially deadly virus weren't enough motivation, some grocery store chains are offering incentives to get the vaccine. Workers at Dollar General, Trader Joe's, Aldi and Lidl can get bonuses in exchange for shots. The sweeteners include money, paid time off or flexible schedules. It remains to be seen whether this practice will spread to other companies who employ essential workers. In the early days of the pandemic, officials worried about the global stock of ventilators. The United States sent 8,700 machines to other countries. Where many of those ventilators ended up is a mystery, per a new Government Accountability Office report describing the Trump administration's scattershot approach to foreign donations. Other important news A yet-unreleased HBO documentary, “In The Same Breath,” claims the Chinese government responded to the early outbreak with blunders and propaganda. Our reporter who has seen the film called it “scathing.” One-in-4 football fans told pollsters they plan to attend Super Bowl parties in the midst of a pandemic that has killed 432,000 Americans. Federal watchdog reports say the United States botched the evacuation of Americans from Wuhan, China, increasing transmission risk to the public. A 26-year-old reporter in Florida became the unofficial guide to helping her community's seniors get vaccinated. A Georgia medical center defied state eligibility rules and gave vaccines to teachers. Georgia canceled the center's vaccine shipments for six months.    Guide to the pandemic Track confirmed cases, hospitalizations and deaths in the U.S. and the spread around the world. U.S. vaccine distribution and delivery, tracked by state. FAQ: How do Biden’s new mask orders work? What you need to know about the virus variants Submit a question and we may answer it in a future story or newsletter.    Your questions, answered “With the vaccine rollout now underway, we are bombarded with images in the media of countless patients with arms bared, staring stoically straight ahead as a health-care worker jabs a 1.5 inch hypodermic needle into their upper arm muscle. This is quite harrowing because it seems barbaric to me. This is the 21st century. Has there been any thought amongst vaccine makers as to a different delivery system — like a patch, or a liquid you can take by mouth? Long needles have got to go.” — Judith in New York I hear you: Needles bite. But syringes remain the simplest way to get vaccines – and, in particular, the fragile genetic information contained within – where they need to go. Our bodies aren't particularly welcoming places. They throw up lots of barriers, from the hairs in our noses to the wax in our ears. Sticky mucus membranes line our guts and passages. There's acid in our bellies. Destructive chemicals and cells in the immune system are microscopic protectors. Inoculations need to bypass all these barriers while keeping the vaccines' delicate components intact. The ones distributed around the United States contain RNA so sensitive the vials need to be deep-chilled, in some cases to temperatures below winter in Antarctica. A swift injection to the upper arm ensures our cells can respond to the RNA before that genetic material degrades. You might wonder why that arm muscle, the deltoid, has long been the most popular spot for vaccination. It's something of a Goldilocks zone, where an immune response occurs not too slowly, but not too fast, as the vaccine agent trickles into the blood supporting the muscle.  Fatty areas don't have enough blood supply. An injection into a vein, on the other hand, would spread the vaccine too rapidly through the coursing bloodstream. (Plus it's a little more socially acceptable to expose an arm muscle than some other prime spots, and it doesn’t take too much training to get the arm-jab down pat.) A wider-bore needle helps the vaccine dissipate while reducing chances of swelling, as this medical review notes. Scientists are working on other ways to slip coronavirus vaccines past our body's defensive line. It's not simple. Researchers at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, for instance, are developing a nasal spray that uses bioengineered bacteria to deposit vaccine in mucosal tissues. But that and similar efforts will require more time to refine and test. Until then, we'll have to roll up our sleeves and take those shots.