Amid the emergence of more virulent and deadlier COVID-19 variants, vaccination efforts have taken on even greater importance in forging a path out of lockdown and a return to economic normalcy in countries around the world. Such efforts are already well underway in many states, administering vaccines produced by BioNTech/Pfizer, Moderna/NIAID, and Oxford/AstraZeneca (for more details see our recent Outlook). But the process so far has proven highly susceptible to production delays and distribution failures.

Here are the latest developments in the vaccination effort:

• According to the Bloomberg global vaccine tracker, some 205 million vaccine doses have been administered across 92 countries as of February 22.
• The United States is vaccinating at a pace of 1.33 million doses per day. Some 63.1 million doses have now been administered, and the Biden administration appears on-track to reach its goal of 100 million doses within its first 100 days. Approximately 13% of the population has received at least one dose, and 5.7% have received two doses.