Israel has vaccinated more than 1 million people against the coronavirus, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said Friday, gaining the admiration of countries worldwide.
Global media has lauded Israel's vaccination program, which is the fastest in the world by far. It especially stands out against the sluggish progress of other countries' vaccination initiatives.
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Israel is the world leader in vaccine doses administered per 100 people. According to the Our World in Data research institute, 7.44 of 100 Israelis are vaccinated, i.e., almost a tenth of the population. More than 150,000 Israelis get inoculated every day.
Bahrain is in second place, with 3.53 vaccinations per 100 people. It is followed by Britain with 1.18, and the United States with 0.64.
France is at the very bottom of the list. It has vaccinated less than 100 people in three days. To put it in perspective, Germany has inoculated 130,000 people within the same amount of time.
Europe's vaccination program might be stalling for several reasons. First of all, it took the European Union longer than Britain and the US to approve the vaccines. The European Medicines Agency only approved the Pfizer vaccine on Dec. 21, whereas in Britain, it was approved on Dec. 2, and in the US on Dec. 11.
France reported that despite the efficacy of the treatment, which studies show is 95% effective against the coronavirus, skepticism over the safety of the treatment still remains. According to a survey carried out in 15 countries by Ipsos Global Advisor, only 40% of the French population said they would be ready to be vaccinated.
The French television news show Télématin broadcast a news report outside an HMO in Jerusalem, saying, "This is how thousands of people get inoculated daily. Israel is winning against the coronavirus."
The French media openly criticized the country's slow vaccination campaign. The government announced the launch of a new campaign next week.
German BioNTech, which co-developed the COVID-19 vaccine with Pfizer, has openly criticized the EU's conduct in preparing for the inoculation program.
"The ordering process was not as fast and smooth in the European Union as in other countries," CEO of BioNTech Ugur Sahin said.
"The organization wrongly assumed that several vaccines would be available at once. In reality, that didn't happen, and right now, Europe's vaccine supply is scarce."
The German media also spoke with praise of Israel's success with the vaccination campaign. The Süddeutsche newspaper published an article titled "Israel vaccinates at record speed" and praised the Israeli vaccination method that is proving to be so successful." The newspaper highlighted that not only did Israel begin the inoculation campaign at record speed, it even increased the pace along the way.
"It appears that Israel will be the first one to emerge from the pandemic. It will most likely become the example of vaccination initiatives worldwide," the newspaper said.
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In India, the Hindustan Times published an article stating that "the world is currently looking at Israel and learning from it. Its ambitious vaccination campaign has already inoculated a tenth of its population." The article also mentioned Israel's fight against Facebook groups that spread lies about coronavirus vaccinations and its plans to rehabilitate the country's economy and go back to normal life through the Green Passport initiative.
This article was first published by i24NEWS.
