Shafaq News/ The world may have administered its 3 billionth COVID vaccination yesterday, but in the global race of the virus against the vaccine, SARS-2-CoV is the moment’s undisputed winner. With the highly transmissible Delta variant now spreading quickly and to devastating effect in 96 countries, the past week has brought record-breaking caseloads in Africa, widespread lockdowns in Australia—relatively untouched by the virus until now—and the reinstituting of indoor mask mandates in Los Angeles and Israel (where vaccinated individuals have been among the newly infected, though not severely ill).
According to fortune.com, the worldwide vaccine drive, meanwhile, remains in its early stages, with just 23.4% of the global population having received at least one vaccine dose as of Tuesday, June 29, according to Our World in Data, which compiles data from local governments. That’s up from 20.9% two weeks ago. Most of those vaccines were administered in wealthy countries, particularly in North America and Europe; despite much discussion of the inequalities in the global rollout, just 0.9% of individuals in low-income countries have received one dose.
Among the countries with the highest percentage of vaccinated residents are Iceland (75.9%), Canada (68%), the U.K. (65.7%), Chile (65.5%), Uruguay (64.7), and Israel (64.5%). Forty-four countries and territories, including the U.S. (53.8%), Germany (54.1%), and Italy (55.9%), have vaccinated more than half their populations.
Sixty-seven countries and territories, including Thailand (9.6%), South Africa (4.9%), and Vietnam (3.5%), have vaccinated less than 10% of their populations; 14 countries, most of them in Africa, have yet to reach 1% of their citizens.
As for the Arab countries, Iraq (1.4%), Lebanon (13%), Jordan (23.2%), and Libya (5.4%).
Countries with relatively high vaccination rates are not necessarily those with the lowest rates of new coronavirus cases. The Seychelles and Mongolia, both of which relied on Chinese COVID shots and have vaccination rates over 60%, have the highest levels of newly reported cases. Other virus hotspots include many countries in South America, Southern Africa, the Middle East, Russia, and the U.K.
