Since the world was hit by the COVID-19 crisis, several laboratories have been in charge of developing an effective vaccine, and since December 2020 its allocation began. This distribution was, and is being, effective thanks to the COVAX initiative, the mainstay of the COVID-19 Access to Tools Accelerator. The Access to Tools Accelerator is a global initiative that has accelerated the study and development of treatments and vaccines against COVID-19 and guarantee its fair distribution and access. COVAX is co-chaired by the Gavi Alliance for Vaccines (Gavi), the Coalition for the Promotion of Innovations for Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI) and the World Health Organization (WHO), and 5 countries are being prioritized for receiving COVID-19 vaccines.
So far, several countries have benefited from this initiative and have received vaccines from three laboratories: Pfizer, BioNTech and AstraZeneca/Oxford. As of today, the United States, Chile, United Kingdom, United Arab Emirates and Israel are the countries with the highest percentages of vaccinated citizens in relation to their total population. Meanwhile, other countries like Pakistan, Nigeria, Indonesia, Bangladesh and Brazil are the five countries that are being prioritized with a total of 175,628,580 allocated doses during the first quarter of 2021.
These were the five countries with the highest percentages of vaccinated people in relation to their total population in March 15, 2021.
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1. United States
On March 15, 2021, 103,161,150 vaccines from the COVAX initiative had been applied. The total population is 329,064,900 , which means approximately 31.3% of the population has been vaccinated.
2. Chile
Chile is the Latin American country with the highest rates of vaccinated people. Out of 18,952,000 people, 8,116,896 have been vaccinated, for a total of 42.8% of the population. In this country, the projection is positive and it is estimated that by April 15, 2021, a total of 15,873,348 doses would have been applied.
3. United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
Up until March 24, 2021, 36.9% of the population in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has received at least the first dose, with a total of 29,936,555 doses applied. This country has a total of 67,530,200 inhabitants and since January 23, 2021, approximately 500,000 doses are being applied every day.
4. United Arab Emirates
Even though the United Arab Emirates has a small population compared to other countries, it has made big efforts to provide vaccines to its population. By now, 63% of its population has been vaccinated. Out of 9,770,500 people, 6,154,164 have been vaccinated and projections indicate that by April 15, 2021 a total of 8,415,835 people would have been vaccinated.
5. Israel
Out of 8,519,400 people, a total of 9,631,254 vaccines have been applied in Israel, meaning that second doses are being applied successfully. Data shows that since December 29, 2020, a large number of doses are being applied; however, the projection shows a decrease in vaccinations since March 15, 2021.
Five other countries have been assigned and prioritized to receive large doses of vaccines: Pakistan (14,640,000), Nigeria (13,656,000), Indonesia (11,704,800), Bangladesh (10,908,000) and Brazil (9,122,400). They were prioritized during the first quarter of 2021, with a total of 60,031,200 from the 175,628,580 allocated doses that will be distributed around the world.
In Brazil – one of the countries most affected by COVID-19 – it is estimated that by April 15, 2021, 11,427,657 doses would have been applied, from a total of 211,049,500 inhabitants.
We can conclude efforts are being carried out and some countries have high percentages of doses applied. However, some countries like Brazil continue to have a vaccination deficit and their projection for the short and medium term is not yet very encouraging.
This is also an example on how data provides evidence to have an overview on how the world is behaving in terms of recovery from the crisis generated by the COVID-19 pandemic.
