Santiago Cafiero said Argentina is one of the countries that have vaccinated the most: what do the data say?

“Argentina is one of the countries that has vaccinated the most in the world,” said the chief of staff. (Photo: DPA)

At the conference where the decree asking the governors restrict night traffic, Santiago Cafiero launched a sentence: “Argentina is one of the countries which has vaccinated the most in the world”. After the official exhibition, the question arises: is this really the case? What does the data say?

According to the Our World in Data site, which stores statistics related to the pandemic globally, the country that has applied the most vaccines to its population to date is Israel, with 19.55 doses per 100 people. Second, and far below, is United Arab Emirates (9.52). Third digit Bahrain (4.25).

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he United Kingdom (1.91) and United States (1.79) round out the top five places. Argentina appears in position 21, with an average of 0.09 dose per 100 people.

Regarding total vaccination rates, Argentina ranks 17th, with nearly 40,000 doses applied according to records posted until January 4. The three countries that have vaccinated the most are United States (5.92 million), China (4.5 million) and Israel (1.69 million). Our World In Data also reports how many doses have been applied so far on the planet: 17 650 000 million.

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Argentina began its vaccination campaign on December 29, and it was resolved to prioritize health workers who are on the front lines of the battle against the virus. Of the 300,000 doses of Sputnik V 146,250 arrived from Russia on 24 December and were distributed for the first time. The remaining 153,450 began delivery on Wednesday.

Next week, a flight to Moscow is scheduled to search for the 300 thousand vaccines which will complete the first two doses corresponding to the initial phase of the campaign. The government has announced that other 5000000 doses will arrive in the country “before the end of the month”. There, vaccination of health personnel will continue and security personnel, the population exposed to the virus and other items deemed essential will begin to be vaccinated.

In addition, the government hopes to speed up the arrival of 1.4 million vaccines produced by the Chinese company Sinopharm, and those of AstraZeneca, in collaboration with the University of Oxford and with a joint production between Argentina and Mexico.

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How many countries vaccinate?

The World Health Organization (WHO) confirmed on Friday that 42 countries have already launched vaccination campaigns against COVID-19, although he warned that 36 of them were from developed economies, which is why he demanded to step up efforts so that immunization reaches the poorest countries as well.

“There is clearly a problem. Low- and middle-income countries are not yet receiving the vaccine, which can be addressed through the COVAX program, ”the organization’s chief executive said. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, alluding to the WHO initiative to distribute doses equitably.

The Ethiopian official stressed at a press conference that currently “rich countries have bought most of the supply of different vaccines”, and at the same time they are signing bilateral agreements for the acquisition of more of doses “, which could potentially increase the price. for all”.

“Vaccine nationalism hurts us all,” said Ghebreyesus, who also suggested that countries that bought more vaccines than needed should donate, and called for stopping bilateral deals “at the expense of COVAX “.

“No country has the particularity of skipping the queue and vaccinating its entire population while others still do not have access to doses,” noted the WHO director, and called for “not lose the opportunity to protect the lives of those most at risk and ensure that all economies have a way to turn around.”