Nearly 65 Million COVID-19 Vaccines Administered Globally

An original version of this article was published by sister publication Contagion.

While global administration of the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine is nearing 65 million doses, many larger countries are struggling with distribution.

One full week after starting their coronavirus 2019 (COVID-19) vaccination efforts, India has experienced a bumpy start with a lower-than-expected turnout according to data from the University of Oxford. The country's rollout has been impacted by technical difficulties and fears over the safety of the vaccines.

With the pandemic still raging in the United States, the Biden administration has recently signed a string of executive orders and presidential directives that aim to fight COVID-19, with the President declaring a “full-scale wartime effort” to combat the disease.

The 200-page document, titled “National Strategy for the COVID-19 Response and Pandemic Preparedness”, outlines a centralized federal response to one of the worst public health crises the nation has faced. Criticisms of the plan have called it both overly ambitious and not nearly ambitious enough.

The goals stated in the response include plans to increase vaccine distribution by setting up community vaccination sites nationwide. Biden also announced that he plans to scale up testing and tracing programs, eliminate issues with supply shortages, invest in high-quality treatments, and provide paid sick leave to try and contain the spread of the virus.

Data TableData per Our World in Data (Jan 18, 2021, 12 AM EST)

Although Georgia has had a limited supply of the vaccine, their rollout of administrations has been successful in comparison to other states.

Data TableData per CDC COVID-19 Tracker (Jan 15, 2021, 9 AM EST)

For more information on COVID-19 vaccination research, distribution, and assessment, check out some of these recent Contagion stories:

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