US Continues to Ramp Up COVID-19 Vaccination Program

This article was originally published in ContagionLive.

Nearly half of the US adult population is expected to have received at least 1 dose of a vaccine for COVID-19 by the end of this week, if the current pace is continued.

The past week saw over 3.1 million vaccinations administered, according to the latest data from the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), with nearly 46% of adults have received at least 1 dose, with 28% having been fully vaccinated.

In Japan, prime minister Yoshihide Suga announced on Monday that the country will secure 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines by the end of June, enough to cover both the elderly and the medical worker populations. Japan has so far only administered vaccines to just 1.1 million people, which equates to less than 1% of the country’s population.

In Pakistan, cases are surging and hospital beds are quickly reaching capacity amidst a third wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The country’s inoculation campaign is moving at a very slowly pace, and because of this the government has allowed the private sector to import and sell doses of vaccines.

Sales saw the Russian vaccine, Sputnik V, sell out in the first weekend of April, as crowds waited at vaccination centers for hours in the hopes of receiving a shot.

Data Table per Our World in Data (April 11, 2021, 12 AM EST)

In New York City, Mayor Bill de Blasio announced on Monday that the city has administered over 5 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines, which he says will keep them on pace to meet their goal of fully vaccinating 5 million people by June.

Data Table per CDC COVID-19 Tracker (April 11, 2021, 6 AM EST)

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

Looking at mRNA COVID-19 Vaccine Reactions

Pfizer Requests COVID-19 Vaccine Availability in Younger Pediatric Population

AstraZeneca COVID-19 Vaccine Linked to Rare Thrombosis, Thrombocytopenia Events