Vaccination campaigns against COVID-19 continue around the world, while new vaccine candidates are expected to complete Phase 3 clinical trials within the month. Our latest COVID Focus Report looks at the global state of vaccination.
Key findings
- As of January 13, Israel’s vaccine administration rate leads all other countries, with more than 21% of its population having received at least one dose of the two-dose Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine. Israel began rolling out the vaccine to citizens on December 20, 2020 at an average rate of approximately 150,000 people per day.
- According to Dr. Anthony Fauci, the Director of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases in the U.S., it has been estimated that in order to reach herd immunity (in the U.S.), approximately 85% of the population likely needs to be vaccinated. A higher threshold may be required if more transmissible SARS-CoV-2 variants dominate those circulating within the country.
- A number of high-income countries have been receiving their first doses of Pfizer/BioNTech’s vaccine recently. However, in many low-income countries, vaccinations might not start until the second quarter of 2021 or even later. Vaccine nationalism is expected to lead to a prolonged pandemic as it continues to pose a threat globally for years.
- 20 COVID-19 vaccine candidates are being studied in Phase 3 or Phase 2/3 trials. Three new vaccine candidates have entered Phase 3 or Phase 2/3 trials since our previous report, which are those developed by Zydus (Phase 3), Vector Institute (Phase 3), and GlaxoSmithKline/Clover Biopharmaceuticals/Dynavax (Phase 2/3).
