PARIS – More than a billion Covid-19 vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, less than five months after the first mass inoculation programmes began to be rolled out, according to an AFP count as at yesterday evening.
At least 1,002,938,540 doses have been administered in 207 countries and territories, according to the tally compiled from official sources.
More than half, or 58%, were given in three countries: the United States (225.6 million doses), China (216.1 million) and India (138.4 million).
However, in terms of the proportion of the population who have been vaccinated, Israel is in the lead, with nearly six out of every 10 Israelis fully inoculated.
It is followed by the United Arab Emirates with more than 51% of the population having received at least one jab, Britain (49%), the US (42%), Chile (41%), Bahrain (38%) and Uruguay (32%).
In the European Union, 128 million doses have been administered to 21% of the population. Malta is leading the way in the 27-nation bloc with 47% of its population inoculated, and the rate in Hungary stands at 37%.
In Germany, only 22.6% of the population have been vaccinated, Spain (22.3%), France (20.5%) and Italy (19.9%).
Worldwide, the number of vaccine doses administered has doubled in less than a month, as inoculation programmes pick up speed.
While the majority of poor countries have also started to vaccinate, mainly thanks to the Covax programme, inoculation is still largely a privilege of high-income nations, as defined by the World Bank, which are home to 16% of the world’s population but have administered 47% of vaccine doses.
Low-income countries account for just 0.2% of doses administered.
Some 12 countries have yet to begin vaccinating – seven in Africa (Tanzania, Madagascar, Burkina Faso, Chad, Burundi, Central African Republic and Eritrea), three in Oceania (Vanuatu, Samoa and Kiribati), one in Asia (North Korea), and one in the Caribbean (Haiti).
Despite the troubles that have plagued it since it was approved for use, the jab developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University is the most widely deployed so far, and has been administered in three-quarters, or 156, of the countries and territories that have started vaccinating.
A rival jab developed by Pfizer and BioNTech has been administered in 91 countries, or 44% of the total. Another shot developed by Moderna has been administered in 46 countries (22%).
Sinopharm’s vaccine has been administered in at least 41 countries (20%), Sputnik V in 32 (15%) and Sinovac in 21 (10%). – AFP, April 25, 2021
