USA and Israel, years before Europe, in the initial race for Covid Shots

The United States is on track to vaccinate 75% of its population against Covid-19 this year, while Canada would need nearly a decade to reach that level of coverage, according to Covid-19 Vaccine Tracker from Bloomberg.

The totally different trajectories show how countries around the world unequally started the largest mass vaccination campaign in history. The UK and Israel are also in the process of administering a two-dose vaccine regimen to three-quarters of people this year – coming up with a rough estimate of when collective immunity can begin – while much of Europe would need a few years for this .

Although the US overall is doing relatively well compared to other countries, the picture varies by state. Hawaii is heading for the main coverage level this year, with New York currently looking into the summer of 2022.

These projections are the latest feature of the tracker and are based on average daily vaccination rates in different countries and states in the U.S. The function will be updated daily and is designed to provide an evolving picture of how vaccine campaigns are accelerating.

Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient number of people have resistance to a virus, either by vaccination or antibodies from previous infection, that the pathogen can no longer make inroads.

It is a complicated concept and experts disagree about how quickly it will be achieved on a regional, national or global scale, especially in the face of mutant virus strains and questions about the longevity of protection from Covid injections. The pace of vaccinations is also expected to accelerate considerably worldwide, as more Covid vaccines are approved and production increases.

For now, with more than 108 million doses already administered worldwide, here is a snapshot of some places that started fast and slow:

– With the help of Anne Pollak