The world has passed one billion vaccines applied, but with uneven distribution

PARIS.- Over a billion doses of Covid-19 vaccines have been administered worldwide, according to an AFP agency count, four and a half months after the first mass vaccination campaigns in December.

In at least 207 countries or territories 1,002,938,540 doses of the different immunizers against the coronavirus, according to a count made from official sources. 58% of these vaccines were injected in three countries: United States (225.6 million doses), China (216.1 million) and the India (138.4 million). However, Israel is the country with the highest percentage of fully immunized population, with 62%. Among the countries that have vaccinated the most, it was followed UK (49% of the population with at least one dose), United Arab Emirates (more than 51%), United States (42%), Chile (41%), Bahrain (38%) and Uruguay (32%).

The countries of the European Union have administered 128 million doses, although in different ways in different states. Those who vaccinated the most were Malta (47% with the first dose) and Hungary (37%), while the largest countries are all at the same level: France (20.5%), Germany (22.6%), Italy (19.9%) and Spain (22.3%).

As of March 25, 500 million doses had been injected. In the past month, that number has doubled and has already passed one billion. Although many poor or developing countries have already started to vaccinate thanks to the Covax mechanism of the World Health Organization (WHO), they have a limited quantity of vaccines..

“Low-income” countries, according to the World Bank, administered only 0.2% of doses, while “high-income” countries injected the dose. 47% of doses, although its population represents 16% of the total of humanity.

There is still 12 countries that have not started to vaccinate. Seven of them are 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 another in the Caribe (Haiti).

Despite the controversies surrounding the AstraZeneca / Oxford drug, it is the most used in the world, since they inject it into 156 of the 207 countries that vaccinate. The Pfizer / BioNTech immunizer is used by 91 countries (44%), Moderna by 46 (22%), Sinopharm by 41 (20%), Sputnik V by 32 (15%) and Sinovac by 21 (10%).

Agencia AFP

AFP