The advance of coronavirus vaccination in the world, country by country

Between December of last year and so far in March, 312 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines were applied around the world. While the campaign falls far short of the labs’ ambitious commitments, it is accelerating in recent weeks.

It took almost two months to reach the first 100 million doses, but the last 100 million were reached in just 17 days. This process is generating more and more optimism in the world.

For example, The OECD on Tuesday revised its growth prospects for most of the G20 countries upwards citing the recovery of immunization campaigns as one of the main reasons. The agency expects world activity to grow this year by 5.6%, which is 1.4 percentage points more than it had anticipated in December.

Nevertheless, the disparity in the distribution of vaccines is still very noticeable. The vaccination map of the world continues to show a northern hemisphere with quite advanced processes, and a southern hemisphere far behind.

In Africa, only a handful of countries started to inoculate their people and almost none come close to 1 percent. But there are two big exceptions. One is Seychelles, the archipelago of the African Indian Ocean, with a population of 96,000 people, in which 83.1 doses were given per 100 inhabitants, which places it second in the world ranking of injections applied. If you look at the percentage of the vaccinated population – it is not the same as the doses because many people have received two – it is first, with 58.1 percent. The other is Morocco, which adds 12.5 doses per 100 people.

Not very different is the picture in the Middle East and Central Asia. But there are also exceptions. The main one is Israel, the only country that exceeded 100 doses per 100 inhabitants. It is already 102.3, and managed to vaccinate 56.7% of its population, being just below Seychelles.

This allowed Israel to take the most important step of its de-escalation this Sunday, with the reopening of cafes, bars and restaurants, the relaxation of restrictions and the return to classrooms in universities, among other measures, that prioritize those who are immunized against the coronavirus. In many cases, establishments only accept customers who present the so-called “green pass”, granted to those who have recovered from COVID-19 or have received the second dose at least a week ago.

The other Middle Eastern country that is a global reference in vaccination is the United Arab Emirates, which has already applied 63.6 doses per 100 people, and that it vaccinated 38.7% of its inhabitants. The third is also found in the Arabian Peninsula: it is Bahrain, which is fifth in doses with 30.1 and seventh in percentage of the inoculated population, with 18.1 percent.

In Latin America there are almost no countries left that have not started vaccinating. Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Suriname are the only ones. But all are below five doses per 100 (Brazil is at 5.15), with the only exception of Chile. With a proportion of 25.9 doses applied, it is eighth in the world ranking. In addition, 21.1% of its population received at least one dose, which leaves the country in sixth place in terms of coverage.

But the most surprising thing about Chile is that with an average of 1.08 daily doses per 100 inhabitants inoculated in the last seven days, became the fastest country administering the COVID-19 vaccine in the world on Tuesday. This is evidenced by the latest data computation carried out by the specialized site Our World in Data from the University of Oxford, with information also released by the Chilean authorities.

In any case, the primacy of the US-Western Europe axis remains very clear when looking at the countries as a bloc. Despite having a population of 328 million, the United States ranks sixth in the global index in terms of doses applied (27.8) and the eighth in coverage (16.6%). President Joe Biden said last week that the country will have enough COVID-19 vaccines for all adults in the country by the end of May, two months ahead of schedule.

In Europe, the United Kingdom took advantage of Brexit, negotiated on its own with laboratories and thus managed to be one of the global leaders in inoculation. It is fourth in given doses (34.6) and in the immunized population (31.5%). The European Union (EU), on the other hand, is suffering the consequences of the challenge posed by the design of a common campaign between 27 countries. But it is still advancing and with a lot of equity within it, so that most are close to 10 doses per 100 inhabitants.

In recent hours, the EU and the United States have agreed to work together to ensure “smooth industrial supply chains” for the production of vaccines against the coronavirus by both parties, the European Commission (EC) reported on Tuesday. The pact was reached in a meeting between the European Commissioner for the Internal Market and head of the European Working Group on Vaccine Production, Thierry Breton, and the White House COVID-19 response coordinator, Jeffrey Zients.

If you look at the competition between the labs, so far there are only six vaccines widely distributed in the world. And there is one that has the advantage: that of Pfizer / BioNTech, which is being applied in 69 countries. The collaboration between the American giant of the pharmaceutical industry and the German laboratory exceeded expectations, to the point of positioning itself as the most demanded vaccine.

In second place is the vaccine from AstraZeneca, the British and Swedish capital firm, which is present in 62 countries. The formula developed in collaboration with researchers at the University of Oxford started out as the most promising project, but faced serious difficulties that affected its prestige and distribution.

Last week, Italy prevented the departure of a shipment with 250,000 doses of AstraZeneca vaccine, destined for Australia, to prevent doses produced in the European Union from being exported to a third country while the manufacturer does not comply with the supply volumes agreed with the EU countries. This occurs at the same time that many European countries reversed the recommendation not to apply it to people over 65, claiming a lack of evidence on its effects.

In third place is the vaccine from the American laboratory Moderna, present in 30 countries. In fourth place, with distribution in 18 countries, are the Russian, Sputnik V, from the Gamaleya National Center; and that of the Chinese laboratory Sinopharm. Another vaccine from the Asian giant is in sixth place: Sinovac, which is being applied in 12 countries.

With information from EFE

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