Israel has administered more COVID-19 vaccines than any other nation, with more than one million people receiving blows, a rate of 12.59 doses per 100 people, according to new data from a follow-up site managed by Oxford University.
Why it’s important: As countries like the United States lag behind in vaccination targets, Israel has given coronavirus doses to more than 10% of its 9.2 million population since it began administering the Pfizer / BioNTech vaccine on May 19. December.
The big picture: Israel is in its third national closure, with more than 3,300 deaths from COVID-19 and 435,000 cases. But Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has said the country “could emerge from the pandemic as early as February” as it delivers doses to some 150,000 people a day, the BBC notes.
- Israel has also established agreements with Moderna and other producers of coronavirus vaccines. Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza Strip are not covered by the deployment, which the Palestinian Authority has not officially requested, The Guardian reports.
- Israeli officials have indicated they could administer surplus vaccines to Palestinians and the UN-led COVAX initiative plans to distribute doses to the territories.
For the record: The United States has administered 4.23 million doses, a rate of 1.28 per 100 people as of Saturday, according to figures from Our World in Data, run by Oxford, which measures individual doses of the vaccine they usually take. need twice.
- President-elect Joe Biden last week criticized the Trump administration for “falling behind” in its goal of getting 20 million Americans to receive the coronavirus vaccine by the end of 2020. Trump blamed the states of delays in distribution.
- NIAID Director Anthony Fauci expects to see an increase in the U.S. vaccine boost this month that should allow health officials to keep pace.