Global Fight
The fight against COVID-19 has not been easy for any country. For most countries, vaccines weren’t widely available until the beginning of 2021, and widespread carelessness has left many countries back to square one. However, if we want to stop the pandemic, it will take global cooperation between all countries, no matter if you are developed or developing. Let’s look at how some countries are doing with the coronavirus.
First is the United States. The US has been successful during 2021, bringing the caseload from 300,000 to 35,000, marking the lowest number of infections since September. More importantly, the vaccination initiative has been successful so far, with nearly half of the population receiving a dose. The next step for them is reducing vaccine hesitancy and achieving herd immunity, one they are already looking to push towards with the approval of the Pfizer vaccine on adolescents.
Asia is a completely different story. The 3 hot zones at the moment are India, Turkey, and Iran, who have continued to struggle with rolling out vaccines. India holds the current title as the world’s largest hot spot with a new variant crippling the country. East Asia is still holding very well, with China and Japan continuing to report low case numbers.
Europe is starting to round the corner on the virus, with vaccinations speeding up and countries reopening. They faced a minor roadblock with the lack of production in the Astra-Zeneca vaccine, but the euro zone is reporting small caseloads now. The conditions in Africa and South America have also been similar, except for Brazil. A new variant was formed there, which led to a minor surge in the beginning of 2021, but it looks like it’s slowing there now.
The world’s collective goal is to conceal the spread of variants by vaccinating as many people as they possibly can. The US is trying to get vaccines to the developing world, and China and Russia are trying to do the same. Remember, if you get your vaccine, you get the world one step closer to making the coronavirus a minor threat.
I am not a financial advisor and my comments should never be taken as financial advice. Investments come with risk, so always do your research and analysis beforehand.
