Israel has administered more COVID-19 vaccines than any other nation, with more than 1 million people receiving vaccines – a rate of 12.59 doses per 100 people, show new data from a tracking website run by the University of Oxford.
Why it matters: While countries like the United States lag behind immunization targets, Israel has administered doses of coronavirus to more than 10% of its population of 9.2 million since it began administering the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine on December 19.
The big picture: Israel is in its third national blockade, with more than 3,300 COVID-19 deaths and 435,000 cases. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said the country “could get out of the pandemic as early as February” as it distributes doses to about 150,000 people a day, notes the BBC.
- Israel also struck deals with Moderna and other producers of vaccines against the coronavirus. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza are not covered by the implementation, which the Palestinian Authority has not officially requested, reports the Guardian.
- Israeli officials have indicated that they can give the Palestinians surplus vaccines and the UN-led COVAX initiative plans to distribute doses to the territories.
For registration: The United States administered 4.23 million doses, a rate of 1.28 per 100 people on Saturday, according to figures from Oxford’s Our World in Data, which measures single doses of the vaccine that usually require two jabs.
- President-elect Joe Biden criticized the Trump administration last week for “falling behind” on his goal of 20 million Americans getting the coronavirus vaccine by the end of 2020. Trump blamed states for delays in distribution.
- NIAID director Anthony Fauci expects to see an increase in the momentum of the vaccine in the US this month, which should allow health officials to reach the projected pace.