COVID-19: How is the vaccination drive going country-wise?
Around 33% of the world population has received at least one dose of a vaccine against COVID-19, data compiled by Our World in Data showed. Our World in Data is a project of the non-profit Global Change Data Lab and is based at Oxford University. Interestingly, the data showed that only 1.6% of people in low-income countries have received at least one dose.
5 billion vaccine doses administered globally
According to Our World in Data, over five billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered globally so far, with around 36.21 million being administered daily. Among them, the most number of doses have been administered in Asia (3.38 billion), out of which, China contributes two billion doses. India has administered over 600 million doses while the United States has administered 365 million.
Nearly 2 billion fully vaccinated worldwide
Globally, over 214 million COVID-19 cases have been reported while over 4.47 million people have died of the viral disease. In comparison, 1.96 billion people worldwide have been fully vaccinated, while over 630 million have received at least one dose.
UAE among countries leading in vaccination coverage
Worldwide, 65.14 doses have been administered per 100 people, the data showed. The United Arab Emirates is among the best performers in this regard, administering 179.25 doses per 100 people. The figure is higher than 100 since the data accounts for single doses and some vaccine recipients have received multiple doses depending on the type of vaccine they were administered.
43 doses administered per 100 people in India
Among other countries, Canada has administered 138.85 doses per 100 people, followed by China (138.75), the United Kingdom (132.09), and the US (108.75). India has notably performed worse than the global average, administering 43.38 doses per 100 people.
25% fully vaccinated worldwide; 8% partially vaccinated
Worldwide, 24.91% of people have been fully vaccinated, while 8.05% have been partially vaccinated. The UAE has fully vaccinated 74% of its population, while 11% has received at least one dose. Among other countries, the trends are as follows: Canada (65.92% fully vaccinated, 7% partially vaccinated), UK (62%, 8.2%), US (51%, 9.2%), Australia (25.64%, 18.84%), New Zealand (21.61%, 17.11%), and India (9.8%, 24%).
Most number of fully vaccinated people in US
The US leads in terms of most number of people who have been fully vaccinated (172.17 million). Over 200 million people have been partially vaccinated in the country. India falls second, fully vaccinating 136.26 million people (331.87 million people have been partially vaccinated). Other countries: UK (42.23 million fully vaccinated, 5.63 million partially vaccinated), Canada (25.10 million, 2.66 million), UAE (7.42 million, 1.07 million).
Only 15 million in poorer countries get vaccines
The income divide in the global COVID-19 vaccination drive is glaring as only 1.6% of people or 15.38 million people in total have received at least one dose in low-income countries. In comparison, 1.37 billion in high-income countries, 2.73 billion people in upper-middle-income countries, and 1.01 billion people in lower middle income have had access to vaccines, the data showed.
Global COVAX initiative proves itself toothless
The vaccination inequity had been precedented and the WHO had launched its COVAX initiative to ensure global equitable access to vaccines by diverting them to lower-income countries. However, COVAX does not stop richer nations from entering deals with vaccine manufacturers, thus letting them cut to the front of the line. Some richer countries—including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the UK—have also accepted COVAX doses.
COVAX sent more doses to UK than Africa in June
Notably, in June, COVAX had sent 530,000 doses to the UK, which is more than double the number of doses sent to Africa that month. Meanwhile, countries such as Haiti, Syria, Venezuela, among others have received less than the promised number of doses.
