To date, 40 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered – 12 million in the U.S., followed by 10 million in China, 4 million in the U.K. and 2 million in Israel, according to Our World in Data, a U.K.-based nonprofit that has been tracking vaccine statistics.
Those numbers only equate to 3% and 0.6% of the U.S. and Chinese populations, respectively. The countries that have administered vaccine shots the most per capita are Israel (24%), Bahrain (16.8%), the United Arab Emirates (8.3%) and the U.K. (5.3%).
Meanwhile, the European Union is playing catch up, having begun its rollout on Dec. 27, with some countries within the union proving more successful than others. Those on its periphery are eying the vaccine rollout with jealousy, with many in the Balkans feeling abandoned by their European neighbors.
"Just like in the Titanic sinking, the rich have grabbed all the available lifeboats leaving the less fortunate behind," Professor Dragan Danilovski, a retired epidemiologist from Northern Macedonia, told ABC News. "We have fallen behind in the race, but did we have a fair chance? It's a chronic global inequality."
Among the most recent contenders to join this race are Indonesia and India. India's mass vaccination program will be the world's largest with its bid to reach more than 1.3 billion people. Since it started this weekend, 224,000 people have been dosed according to Our World in Data.
Of the four frontrunners, the U.K. had a small head start as the first country in the world to approve a vaccine and began administering it, on Dec. 8. The Israelis started their program on Dec. 19 and it is being widely hailed as the most efficient, but it is not without controversy. Human rights organizations have condemned the Israeli government as the rollout does not include the more than 5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza.
To date, 40 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines have been administered – 12 million in the U.S., followed by 10 million in China, 4 million in the U.K. and 2 million in Israel, according to Our World in Data, a U.K.-based nonprofit that has been tracking vaccine statistics.
Those numbers only equate to 3% and 0.6% of the U.S. and Chinese populations, respectively. The countries that have administered vaccine shots the most per capita are Israel (24%), Bahrain (16.8%), the United Arab Emirates (8.3%) and the U.K. (5.3%).
Meanwhile, the European Union is playing catch up, having begun its rollout on Dec. 27, with some countries within the union proving more successful than others. Those on its periphery are eying the vaccine rollout with jealousy, with many in the Balkans feeling abandoned by their European neighbors.
"Just like in the Titanic sinking, the rich have grabbed all the available lifeboats leaving the less fortunate behind," Professor Dragan Danilovski, a retired epidemiologist from Northern Macedonia, told ABC News. "We have fallen behind in the race, but did we have a fair chance? It's a chronic global inequality."
Among the most recent contenders to join this race are Indonesia and India. India's mass vaccination program will be the world's largest with its bid to reach more than 1.3 billion people. Since it started this weekend, 224,000 people have been dosed according to Our World in Data.
Of the four frontrunners, the U.K. had a small head start as the first country in the world to approve a vaccine and began administering it, on Dec. 8. The Israelis started their program on Dec. 19 and it is being widely hailed as the most efficient, but it is not without controversy. Human rights organizations have condemned the Israeli government as the rollout does not include the more than 5 million Palestinians living in the West Bank and Gaza.