The biggest vaccination campaign in history is underway. According a Bloomberg report More than 2.55 billion doses have been administered across 180 countries, according to data collected by Bloomberg. The latest rate was roughly 37.3 million doses a day.
In the U.S., 316 million doses have been given so far. In the last week, an average of 1.36 million doses per day were administered.
Enough doses have now been administered to fully vaccinate 16.7% of the global population—but the distribution has been lopsided. Countries and regions with the highest incomes are getting vaccinated more than 30 times faster than those with the lowest.
Which nation is bending the COVID-19 Curve?
Israel was first to show that vaccinations were having a nationwide effect. The country has led the world in vaccinations, and by February more than 84% of people ages 70 and older had received two doses. Severe covid cases and deaths declined rapidly. A separate analysis in the U.K. showed similar results.
It’s now a life-and-death contest between vaccine and virus. New strains threaten renewed outbreaks. In the early stages of a campaign, the effect of vaccinations are often outweighed by other factors of transmissibility: virus mutations, seasonality, effectiveness of mask use and social distancing. In time, higher vaccination rates should limit the Covid-19 burden around the world.
While the best vaccines are thought to be 95% effective, it takes a coordinated campaign to stop a pandemic. Anthony Fauci, the top infectious-disease official in the U.S., has said that vaccinating 70% to 85% of the U.S. population would enable a return to normalcy.
India has administered over 265 million coronavirus vaccine doses by Wednesday, June 16. The Centre defended its decision to keep a long gap between the two doses of Covishield vaccine despite new evidence that shows that the second shot needs to be given sooner for better protection from the prevalent Delta variant.
On a global scale, that’s a daunting level of vaccination. At the current pace of 37.3 million a day, it would take another year to achieve a high level of global immunity. The rate, however, is steadily increasing, and new vaccines by additional manufacturers are coming to market.
