The progress of vaccination against the coronavirus in the world, country by country

Between December of last year and so far in March, 312 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been applied worldwide. If the campaign is far from the ambitious commitments of the laboratories, it has accelerated 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 generates more and more optimism in the world.

For example, The OECD revised upward its growth outlook for most of the G20 countries on Tuesday citing the resumption of vaccination campaigns as one of the main reasons. The agency expects global activity to increase 5.6% this year, 1.4 percentage points higher than expected in December.

However, the disparity in vaccine distribution is still very noticeable. The immunization map of the world continues to show a northern hemisphere with fairly advanced processes, and a southern hemisphere far behind.

In Africa, only a handful of countries have started immunizing their populations and hardly any are approaching 1 percent. But there are two big exceptions. One is Seychelles, the archipelago in the African Indian Ocean, with a population of 96,000 people, in which 83.1 doses were administered per 100 inhabitants, making it the second largest in the world for injections applied. If you look at the percentage of the population vaccinated – it’s not the same as the doses because a lot of people got two – it’s the first, with 58.1 percent. The other is Morocco, which adds 12.5 doses per 100 people.

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

This allowed Israel to take the most important step in its de-escalation this Sunday, with the reopening of cafes, bars and restaurants, the easing of restrictions and the return to classrooms in universities, among other measures, which give priority to those who are immune to the coronavirus. In many cases, establishments only accept patrons who present the so-called “green pass,” given to those who have recovered from COVID-19 or who received the second dose at least one year ago. week.

The other country in the Middle East that is a global benchmark for immunization 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 hardly any countries left that have not started immunizing. Cuba, Haiti, Nicaragua and Suriname are the only ones. But all of them are less than five doses per 100 (Brazil is 5.15), with the sole exception of Chile. With a proportion of 25.9 doses applied, it occupies eighth place 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 dose per 100 inhabitants inoculated over the past seven days, became the fastest country in the world to administer the COVID-19 vaccine on Tuesday. This is attested by the last data calculation carried out by the specialized site Our world in data from the University of Oxford, with information also published by the Chilean authorities.

In any case, the primacy of the United States – Western Europe axis remains very clear when one considers the countries as a block. Despite a population of 328 million, the United States ranks sixth in the global index in terms of applied doses (27.8) and the eighth in terms of 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 alone with the laboratories and thus succeeded in being one of the world leaders in inoculation. It is fourth in the doses administered (34.6) and in the vaccinated population (31.5%). The European Union (EU), on the other hand, is bearing the brunt of the challenge of designing a common campaign among 27 countries. But it is still progressing and with a lot of fairness within it, so that most are close to 10 doses per 100 inhabitants.

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

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

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

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

In third place, the vaccine from the American laboratory Moderna, present in 30 countries. In fourth place, with distribution in 18 countries, is 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 applied in 12 countries.

With information from EFE

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