These 3 Countries Are Ahead of the U.S. in Coronavirus Vaccinations

While health officials worldwide rush to administer the earliest COVID-19 vaccine doses, three countries are leading the way.

Israel, Bahrain and the United Kingdom have respectively distributed more immunizations per capita than all other global nations, according to Our World in Data. The scientific digital publication, operated by Oxford University researchers, hosts a webpage dedicated to tracking COVID-19 immunization progress across the globe.

Its data placed the U.S. fourth, behind those three nations, in terms of vaccine administration. Where research indicated that more than 10 percent of Israel's population had received at least one dose, it suggested roughly 1 percent of the U.S. population had received the same. Estimates showed about 1.28 vaccine doses were administered per 100 people in the U.S., compared with 1.39 doses in the U.K.; 3.53 doses in Bahrain; and 12.59 doses in Israel.

Our World in Data compiled statistics using public information released by various government agencies. It cited the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) as its primary source for U.S. vaccination updates. The CDC noted as of Saturday that 4.2 million people had so far received an initial vaccine dose. That number accounts for approximately 30 percent of the 13 million doses distributed to states by federal health authorities.

Through Operation Warp Speed, the White House's COVID-19 immunization initiative, each U.S. state began to receive preliminary vaccine shipments in mid-December. The rollout followed Pfizer and Moderna's authorizations under the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), which approved each two-dose vaccine for emergency use. Federal officials, including sitting president Donald Trump, continue to praise the distribution effort as others criticize its pace and perceived lack of efficiency.

"The vaccines are being delivered to the states by the Federal Government far faster than they can be administered," Trump tweeted on Sunday morning.

The U.S. fell notably short of its intended goal to administer 20 million COVID-19 vaccines to vulnerable members of the population before the end of last year. Critics pointed to an absence of thorough planning ahead of the vaccine rollout as one of the factors that likely contributed to administration delays that followed.

"Personally, I'm incredibly frustrated," wrote Ashish Jha, dean of Brown University's School of Public Health, in a viral Twitter thread that argued federal authorities did not provide adequate resources to assist states as they launched their immunization initiatives. "Did we not know that vaccines were coming?" he continued. "Is vaccine administration a surprise?"

Leading U.S. infectious disease expert Dr. Anthony Fauci estimated that between 70 and 85 percent of the population must be vaccinated before the country will start to see COVID-19 cases decrease. Upwards of 20.4 million people have tested positive for the respiratory disease and more than 350,000 people have died in the U.S. since the pandemic began last spring, according to Johns Hopkins University's latest figures.

Newsweek reached out to the White House for comment, but did not receive a reply in time for publication.