As a new strain of the novel coronavirus has started its haunt in Europe and Asia, the need of vaccination increases by every day. The likes of Oxford-AstraZenca, Pfizer, BioNTech and Moderna have already pitched their bid in the vaccine race and drives have begin in various countries. Here is a list of countries that have rolled out vaccines: 

1) United Kingdom : On December 8, UK became the first country to roll out the COVID-19 vaccine, as Margaret Keenan 90, became the first person in the world to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine outside of a trial. Citizens over 80, health care workers and social care staff were the first to be vaccinated. The authorities called it the ‘V-Day’ but also confirmed that all of them will require a second dose in 21 days. However, the new strain found in the country has forced the government to impose lockdowns.

2) United States: As per Indian Express’ reports, US had lost 3,12,000 lives by December 20. At an average, the country reported over 216,000 cases per day. It was on December 14 that Washington DC saw a rollout of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine, days after the days after it was approved by the FDA. The vaccine already crossed a million administrations before the White House approved the second vaccine by Moderna.

3) Russia:
President Vladimir Putin on August 13 had announced Russia as the first country to grant regulatory approval to a COVID-19 vaccine. The Sputnik V vaccine was rolled out in September while it had not completed the phase III and neither has it been approved by WHO or any other health organization. However, reports on November 24 stated that Gamaleya Institute’s Sputnik V was 91.4% effective based on interim late-stage trial results.

4) China:
Like Russia, China has been heavily dependent on its inhouse vaccines and simply jumped the international approval procedure. On December 18, Beijing announce that it plans to vaccinate 50 million people in the high-priority group, curbing the virus before the Lunar New Year travel season kicks off.

Two candidates–  one from Sinopharm and Sinovac Biotech have been approved for emergency use. CanSino Biologics Inc’s vaccine has been approved for military use. According to the The Indian Express, South China Morning Post reports said that the Chinese officials have been asked to complete the first 50 million doses by January 15 and the second by February 5.

5) Germany: According to reports published in the Germany’s Bild Chancellor Angela Merkel’s office and Germany’s health ministry asked the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to approve the BioNTech-Pfizer vaccine. However, the vaccination was made available only on December 26 at Saxony-Anhalt. According to Al-Jazeera, a 101-year-old citizen of Krueger– Edith Kwoizalla– was the first of its residents to be vaccinated.

Other countries to have rolled out vaccines are: Belgium, Canada, Chile, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, The Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Greece, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Kuwait, Malta, Mexico, Oman, Poland, Qatar, Romania, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Slovakia, Spain, Switzerland and United Arab Emirates