The pace of vaccinations will influence the reopening of continents

In the meantime herd immunity to the Covid-19 virus, vaccination campaigns are being stepped up worldwide. However, there are significant variations from one continent to another. These are the findings of a New York Times survey. In partnership with Oxford University, the American daily has created a Covid barometer, which analyses the state of vaccination. The figures shed light on the progress of this future global immunity, a key factor in the reopening of borders and the resumption of travel.

Africa, the forgotten continent of vaccination

High-income developed countries are those in which vaccination campaigns are most effective. Countries in the "high income" and "upper middle income" categories capture according to the N.Y.Times/Oxford University, 83% of vaccines administered worldwide.

By contrast, only 0.2% of injections went to low-income countries. This analysis is confirmed by theAfrica. The number of doses administered per 100 inhabitants is only 1.3. Looking at the N.Y.Times/Oxford University classification, it's not surprising to find three African countries at the bottom of the table. Gabon, Sudan and Zambia have a vaccine administration rate of 0.4 and 0.3 per 100 people respectively. Only Morocco has successfully completed its vaccination campaign. The rate of administration of doses of vaccine is 26, which is better than in Croatia, for example!

However, the Covax programme - designed to deliver vaccines to the most disadvantaged countries - should make up for this absence, but only at the end of the year. It plans to deliver two billion doses.

The N.Y.Times/Oxford University study found that more than 1.18 billion doses administered worldwide*.. Either a average of 15 doses per 100 people. North America and Europe are the winning continents in vaccine distribution. L'North America provides 48 doses per 100 people against 31 doses in Europe.

Top 10 countries vaccinated (03/05/21)

Failure in Asia

The allocation of vaccine doses then decreases very quickly. There are 18 doses per 100 people in South America and - surprisingly - only 12 doses per 100 people in Asia. For the moment, the most efficient country is...the Mongolia with 48 doses followed by Singapore with 39 doses.

If the China arrives at an average of 20 doses per 100 people, but no figures are given for the exact number of people vaccinated with one or two doses. Yet the Asian giant is doing better than most countries in the region. For example, it's hard to understand why Japan administered fewer than three doses per 100 people. This is a level only slightly higher than that of the Thailand (2.2 doses).

It is, however, the Vietnam which is the furthest behind with its vaccination, with 0.5 doses per 100 inhabitants. The authorities will be able to justify the virtual absence of official contamination with Covid...

In this failure of Asia, only the Middle East comes out on top. At United Arab Emirates, à Bahrain or the QatarThe number of doses administered was 109, 78 and 58 per 100 residents respectively.

If we look at the countries with the most responsive vaccination policies, we find countries that are generally sparsely populated or geographically isolated, such as islands. Of the top 10 best performers, three have fewer than 500,000 inhabitants and one fewer than one million. This makes the effectiveness of the vaccine all the more remarkable at United States, United Kingdomin Chile and the Emirates.

Vaccination status for selected countries in America and Asia (03/05/21)

Vaccination gathering pace in Europe

Within theEuropean Unionthe main countries have an administered vaccine rate of between 32 and 36 per 100 people. This rate was still ten points lower at the end of March.

If we consider only the percentage of people fully vaccinated - i.e. with two doses - this rate is around 10%. The best-performing EU countries are Malta and Hungary (68 and 63 doses/100 people). The France is at the top end of the scale with 33 doses for 100 people and 9.9% who received the double vaccination.

Among the worst performing countries in the EU are Bulgaria and Latvia (12 and 17/100 doses). Outside the European Union, Serbia and Iceland stand outIn addition to the UK, with a dose rate of 59 and 40 per 100 people respectively. The Switzerland posted an average performance (31) only slightly better than the Turkey (28). On the other hand Russia which comes as a surprise. The shortage in production of the Sputnik V vaccine does not appear to be a rumour. The country only administers 14 doses of the vaccine for every 100 people...

If we look at the distribution statistics for the Russian vaccine, it can only be found in 31 European countries, including Hungary. This is a far cry from the AstraZeneca vaccine, which is present in 139 countries, Pfizer-BioNTech in 90 and Moderna in 42. Sinovac and Johnson & Johnson have an even more limited presence than Sputnik V. The former is distributed in 24 countries - mainly in Asia - and the latter in 12 countries, including France.

This A snapshot of vaccination around the world gives an idea of what the reopening of countries to vaccination might look like. in the coming weeks. The best protected will be the best able to open up to the world. We can already see this in the First relief measures between the EU and the United States or to certain island countries. Asia and Africa, on the other hand, are likely to be the most marginalised continents when it comes to reopening up to the world in the short term.

State of vaccination in selected European countries (03/05/21)

* TAll the figures given refer to 03/05/2021 and are therefore subject to fluctuation.