Slow COVID-19 vaccination in Pakistan, only one jab per 100 people: Report

Amid the COVID-19 pandemic when countries across the globe are speeding up their vaccination programs, Pakistan is stuck at a creeping pace of one jab per hundred individuals, claimed a report.

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Islamabad: Pakistan has administered only one COVID-19 vaccine jab per hundred people while the vaccination drive is picking up pace in other countries.

Citing April 28 data of doses per hundred people by Our World in Data project at the University of Oxford, The News International reported that Seychelles was at the top with 127 doses, Israel second with 116, while UAE is at third place with 107 doses per hundred persons.

Maldives has administered 73 doses per hundred people, China 17, India 11, Nepal 7.2, Bangladesh 5.2, Sri Lanka 4.2, Iran 1.1, Pakistan 1 and Afghanistan 0.6, reported The News International.

More than 1.08 billion vaccine doses have been administered worldwide, equal to 14 doses for every 100 people. According to the data, as many as 83 percent of shots that have gone into arms worldwide have been administered in high and upper-middle-income countries.

Only 0.2 percent of doses have been administered in low-income countries.

A vaccinated person refers to someone who has received at least one dose of a vaccine, and a fully vaccinated person has received all required doses of a vaccine.

For the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, a person who is "fully vaccinated" has received two doses.

While vaccine doses remain relatively scarce globally, most countries have focused their early vaccination efforts on priority groups like the clinically vulnerable; people in their 60s, 70s and older; and front-line workers, like doctors and nurses.

There is also a striking divide between continents. Africa has the lowest vaccination rate of any continent, with some countries yet to start mass vaccination campaigns, reported the data.

Less wealthy countries are relying on a vaccine-sharing arrangement called Covax, which aims to provide two billion doses by the end of the year, reported The News International.