U.S. Ranks 59th Globally for Covid-19 Vaccinations, Just Behind Iran – Gizmodo

A medical assistant rests while waiting for patients at an abandoned Dave & Busters thats been converted to a large-scale covid-19 testing facility on January 8, 2022 in Houston, Texas. Photo: Brandon Bell (AP)

The U.S. covid-19 vaccination rate has slipped to 59th in the world, right behind Iran and Sri Lanka, according to the latest data from Johns Hopkins University. The U.S. was ranked 55th in November of 2021, 40th in September, and 18th back in July, but has struggled with an onslaught of medical disinformation delivered to large swaths of the American people through outlets like Fox News.

During the earliest vaccination efforts of 2021, both smaller countries and more wealthy nations dominated the international rankings. But population size doesnt matter so much anymore and many low-income countries are doing very well compared with the U.S., which has vaccinated just 63% of its population.

For example, China, which boasts the largest population in the world, has vaccinated 87% of its population of 1.4 billion people, giving it the fifth highest vaccination rate globally. Cuba, one of the poorer countries in the world, is ranked seventh on the list, having vaccinated 85% of its population. Fiji, which is also a low-income country, has achieved a vaccination rate of 68%, well above wealthier countries like Switzerland, Israel, and the United States.

Japan stands out as a wealthy country that was lagging in 2021 but has really stepped up its vaccination efforts in recent months. Roughly 78% of Japan is now vaccinated against covid-19, up from just 49% back in September.

Germany is also notable in its recent efforts. The country has a large anti-vaccine population but has managed to do relatively well in the past few months. Germanys covid-19 vaccination rate was roughly 48% back in July of 2021, roughly the same as the U.S.s vaccination rate of 49% at the time. But Germany has been able to get more than 71% of its population vaccinated, while the U.S. is currently stuck at 63%.

Below, we have the current list of top 65 most vaccinated countries in the world, all based on data from Johns Hopkins University.

While most of the world is suffering though the current wave of the omicron variant right now, the U.S. has been particularly hard hit, thanks in large part to having such a large percentage of unvaccinated people.

The U.S. reported 1,459,005 new cases on Monday, an exceptionally high number thanks to the weekend backlog, but the seven-day average for cases is still historically high. The country is averaging 771,516 new cases each day and currently has 140,268 people in hospital with covid-19, up 4,158 from just a day before. The U.S. also reported 2,235 new deaths.

Get vaccinated. Get boosted. Thats the way to make sure youre protected against serious illness and death from a disease thats rocked the world for over two years now. And one day this will all be over. It has to be.

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U.S. Ranks 59th Globally for Covid-19 Vaccinations, Just Behind Iran - Gizmodo