Israel is the world leader in vaccinations against COVID-19: more than a million vaccinated

Israel has administered more COVID-19 vaccines than any other country, with more than one million people receiving injections – a rate of 12.59 doses per 100 people, new data shows from a managed tracking site by the University of Oxford.

Why is this important: As countries like the United States fall behind on vaccination targets, Israel has administered doses of the coronavirus to over 10% of its population of 9.2 million since it began administering the Pfizer vaccine / BioNTech on December 19.

The big picture: Israel is on its third national lockdown, with more than 3,300 deaths from COVID-19 and 435,000 cases. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country “could emerge from the pandemic as early as February” by distributing doses to some 150,000 people a day, the BBC notes.

• Israel has also made deals with Moderna and other producers of coronavirus vaccines. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are not covered by the deployment, which the PA has not officially requested, reports the Guardian.
• Israeli officials have indicated that they may give Palestinians surplus vaccines and the UN-led COVAX initiative plans to distribute doses to the territories.

For memory: The United States administered 4.23 million doses, a rate of 1.28 per 100 people on Saturday, according to figures from the Oxford-run Our World in Data, which measures single doses of the vaccine that typically require two injections.

• President-elect Joe Biden last week criticized the Trump administration for “falling behind” its target of 20 million Americans receiving the coronavirus vaccine by the end of 2020. Trump blamed states for delivery delays.
• NIAID Director Anthony Fauci expects vaccine momentum in the United States to increase this month, which should allow health officials to catch up to expected pace.