Originally published on February 4, 2021 7:52 am
China has approved one domestic coronavirus vaccine for commercial use. Four more are in late stage human trials, and a nationwide vaccination campaign is already underway.
But the vaccine rollout is happening more slowly than expected. Only about 24 million doses have been administered, but those numbers represent only the first dose of a two-dose vaccine. That means at most, only 1.6% of China s population received their first shot by the end of January. Beijing s modest goal is to inoculate 50 million people or about 3.5% of the total population by mid-February, right before Lunar New Year.
China excels at mobilizing hundreds of millions of people for home isolation or mass COVID-19 testing. So why is it struggling with vaccination?
India gives 4 million covid vaccine doses, but pace slower than expected
Noida: A medic administers the dose of COVID-19 vaccine on a beneficiary during the vaccination drive across the country, at a district hospital in Noida, Friday, Jan. 29, 2021. (PTI Photo)(PTI01 29 2021 000190B)
(PTI)
Share Via
Read Full Story
On 30 January 2020, India recorded its first coronavirus case. A year has passed since, and vaccinations are gradually picking up. After losing more than 154,000 people to the pandemic, India has now become the fastest in the world to give more than 4 million vaccine doses.
India took 18 days since the first shot to reach this mark, the US took 20 days, and the UK and Israel took more than a month each. But India’s large population means other countries have reached a far greater share of their people through their vaccination programmes.
7 slides Credit: AFP via Getty Images
In Vaccine Race, Middle Income Nations Are At A Disadvantage. Just Ask Peru. By
Peru is scrambling to get access to COVID vaccines as cases spike.
But the Latin American nation is in a tough slot.
The first problem is its relative wealth. Peru is classified by the World Bank as upper middle-income. So it has some money to spend on vaccines but not nearly the financial resources of the U.S., the European Union or even wealthier neighbors like Brazil or Chile. But it s not poor enough to qualify for free doses from COVAX, the global program aimed at assuring equitable access to vaccines.
Share on Twitter
Millions of coronavirus vaccinations have already been administered globally as countries race to fortify themselves against the global pandemic.
But as the scramble to secure vaccines intensifies, there are fears that poorer countries will miss out as richer nations stockpile crucial supplies.
For two months, the US-based Duke University Global Health Innovation Centre has been keeping track of which countries are buying vaccines and comparing these figures with where disease burden is the greatest.
The centre s research shows that, of the 7 billion doses bought world wide, more than 4 billion have been snapped up by high-income countries.
A woman opens her mouth for a heath worker to collect a sample for coronavirus testing in South Africa.