Posted : 2021-04-05 17:02 Updated : 2021-04-05 17:02 The steadily increasing pace of COVID-19 vaccinations in the U.S. ― more than 2.5 million shots a day at the moment ― has given hope to many Americans that the pandemic will be over in a few months and life can return to normal. Sorry to burst that bubble, but even if enough Americans are vaccinated to reach herd immunity, the pandemic won't be over until every nation on Earth has equal protection. And under current projections, that won't happen for three years from now, maybe longer. That's because the bulk of the available doses have been scarfed up by wealthy nations, including the U.S., which struck deals with pharmaceutical companies even before their vaccines had been proved effective. Tom Bollyky of the Council on Foreign Relations told National Public Radio that just 10 countries have used three out of every four of the some 400 million COVID-19 vaccine doses administered so far, with the U.S. at the top of the list.