While countries compete to get vaccinations in the arms of their people, one country dominates the rest of the field: Israel.
According to data collected by Our World in Data, Israel administered the COVID vaccine at a per capita rate of almost 25 per 100 people. This equates to just over 23% of the population receiving at least one vaccine dose.
Lead the world
Americans watched in horror as many state governments mismanaged the administration of the COVID vaccine. Most importantly, thanks to the disastrous deployment plan of Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, New York had to force the healthcare facilities to throw away expired doses.
Although only about 3% of the U.S. population received the vaccine, not every state was a disaster, as West Virginia, South Dakota, and North Dakota dominated with per capita vaccination rates.
But Israel has somehow avoided such disasters and made even the most successful states in the US look like failures.
And they leave the rest of the world in the dust.
In less than a month, the country has vaccinated almost a quarter of its population. Vox reported that it shot nearly 150,000 people daily, and although the country has compiled a priority list, it has been a practice from the beginning to make sure doses are not lost. In fact, the country was so successful that the concern was that the doses would run out, but the government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu entered into an agreement with Pfizer.
From Vox:
Over the past few weeks, the country has delivered shots to about 150,000 people a day. People over 60 and health workers enjoyed priority; however, in an effort to avoid spoiling shots that could spoil, other Israelis got the vaccine if they happened to know the right clinic or were in the right place at the right time.
Israel’s rapid campaign worked almost too well: the country soon began reducing doses, threatening to slow the rate of new vaccinations. Israel also committed to discussing a second dose for all who received the first dose. Follow-up appointments are scheduled for 21 days after the first jab, often until the exact day, sometimes the hour.
But on January 7, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu announced that the country had reached an agreement with Pfizer to deliver more vaccines, with the aim of vaccinating all citizens over the age of 16 by the end of March. With more than 70 percent of the people over 60 already vaccinated, Netanyahu said Sunday that the campaign will soon expand to include all people aged 50 and older, aiming for 170,000 vaccinations every day.
Israel obtained the Pfizer agreement by agreeing to share with the company and the World Health Organization the age, gender and medical history of all who received the vaccination, as well as how well the vaccinations work and any side effects, reports Politico .
What about the rest of the world? Well, not great.
The United Arab Emirates comes in second with a rate per 100 of 15.45. Third is Bahrain at 6.44. And from there, it only gets worse.
And there is still a lot of work to be done as a percentage of the population for every nation – even Israel.
(H / T: HotAir)