What we’re watching: It will take another month or so for the AstraZeneca vaccine to be available for use in the U.S., following the company’s announcement yesterday that the two-dose regimen was 79% effective at preventing symptomatic illness.

“The gap between supply and demand is closing considerably, and I think by the time we get to May, that gap will be closed,” NIAID Director Anthony Fauci said.

“At most, you’ll get a small percentage of Americans vaccinated with AstraZeneca, and it won’t speed up vaccinations, because by May, supply will not be the constraint,” said Ashish Jha, the dean of public health at Brown University.

The other side: Angela Rasmussen, a virologist with Georgetown’s Center for Global Health Science and Security, said she thinks the AstraZeneca vaccine will be useful in rural parts of the country where cold storage is a challenge.