As countries rush to get vaccines in the arms of their people, one country is dominating the rest of the countryside: 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 amounts to just over 23% of the population who received at least one dose of vaccine.
Leading the world
Americans saw with horror how many state governments mismanaged the administration of the COVID vaccine. Most notably, New York, thanks to the disastrous deployment plan by Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo, saw health centers forced to throw out missed doses.
Although only about 3% of the US population received the vaccine, not all states were a disaster, as West Virginia, South Dakota and North Dakota led with above average vaccination rates per capita.
But Israel has somehow avoided such disasters and is making even the most successful states in the United States look like failures by comparison.
And they are leaving the rest of the world in the dust.
In less than a month, the country vaccinated almost a quarter of its population. It delivers injections to almost 150,000 people every day, Vox reported, and although the country has created a list of priorities, from the beginning it has become a practice to ensure that doses are not missed. In fact, the country was so successful that it was concerned about a lack of doses, but Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government made a deal with Pfizer.
From Vox:
In recent weeks, the country has injected about 150,000 people a day. The priority was for people over 60 and health professionals; however, in an attempt to avoid wasting injections 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 well: the country soon began to run out of doses, which threatened to slow the pace of new vaccinations. Israel has also pledged to reserve a second dose for everyone who receives the first. Follow-up appointments are scheduled for 21 days after the first injection, usually for the exact day, sometimes at the right time.
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 inoculating all citizens over 16 by the end of March. With more than 70 percent of people over 60 already vaccinated, Netanyahu said on Sunday that the campaign would soon expand to include everyone aged 50 and over, and would strive for 170,000 vaccines a day.
Israel got the deal with Pfizer by agreeing to share with the company and the World Health Organization the age, sex and medical history of everyone receiving the vaccination, as well as how well the vaccines work and any side effects, the Politico said.
So, how is the rest of the world? Well, not great.
Second, with a rate of 100 of 15.45, is the United Arab Emirates. The third is Bahrain at 6.44. And it only gets worse from there.
And there is still a lot of work to be done as a percentage of the population of each nation – even Israel.
(H / T: HotAir)