Global vaccinations cross 500 million but cases continue to surge

Over 500 million coronavirus vaccine doses have been rolled out by health officials around the world so far. A tally by AFP revealed on Friday that while the world was witnessing record vaccinations, Europe was facing slowdowns due to issues over hoarding and supply.

Even with mass inoculations underway, the pandemic continues to surge in Europe and Latin America. Brazil, alone has passed 300,000 deaths, while Mexico has registered 200,000 fatalities.

Vaccines are not being rolled out at the same pace across the globe. For instance, the US accounts for over a quarter of all vaccinations. Less developed nations are considerably behind western countries.

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EU countries are embroiled in spats over the vaccines. Recently, French President Macros accused Russia and China of trying to gain influence through vaccines, calling it a “new type of world war”. At the same time, Germany claims that it would be okay using Sputnik V if it received approval from European regulators.

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The virus has killed over 2.7 million people after emerging in China in 2019. Out of the 508 million vaccinations, 133 million were undertaken in the US and 91 million in India.

But even then, over half a million cases of the virus were recorded in the last seven days.