4 billion anti-Covid shots injected worldwide

PARIS: More than four billion doses of anti-Covid vaccines have been administered around the world, eight months after the vaccination drive started, according to an AFP count Thursday.

Global injections have slowed slightly: the fourth billion dose was reached in 30 days, while it took only 26 days to reach the previous one. The first and second billion were reached after about 140 and 40 days respectively.

Forty percent (1.6 billion) of the four billion shots have been administered in China. India (451 million) and the United States (343 million) make up the trio of countries that have administered the most jabs.

In terms of population among countries with more than one million people, the United Arab Emirates is the leader: 168 first and second doses administered per 100 inhabitants. Uruguay follows (137), then Bahrain (134).

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The UAE is close to having 70 percent of its population fully vaccinated while Uruguay and Bahrain have both reached more than 60 percent.

After this the leading countries are Qatar, Chile and Canada (129 shots per 100 inhabitants), Israel (128), Singapore (125), the United Kingdom, Mongolia and Denmark (124) and Belgium (121).

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These countries have fully vaccinated more than half their populations.

Not far off are China (111), the United States (104) and the European Union (103). The US and EU have fully vaccinated nearly half their population, while China does not communicate this information.

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Most poor countries have now started to vaccinate, mainly thanks to the Covax scheme and donations of unused doses by rich countries, but the vaccination coverage remains very unequal. High-income countries (as defined by the World Bank) administered an average of 97 doses per 100 inhabitants compared with just 1.6 doses in low-income countries.

On average 52 shots have been injected per 100 inhabitants worldwide.

Three countries are not yet vaccinating: Burundi, Eritrea and North Korea.