One Country Has Jumped Ahead on Vaccinations

One nation has already provided more than a quarter of its people with at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, outpacing every other country in the world and more than sextupling the percentage in the United States. During one recent three-day period, in fact, it administered a dose of the vaccine to a higher percentage of its population than the U.S. has altogether. Nearly three-fourths of those over age 60 have gotten their first shot. And most of the population could be vaccinated by the end of March, which would be earlier than any nation except, perhaps, tiny Palau and the Vatican. The government is now preparing “passports” for the twice-jabbed that will exempt them from quarantines.

It’s the kind of standout success one would expect from the now-familiar stars of the global response to COVID-19—Taiwan, , or . But it’s actually been achieved by Israel, in several respects a surprising country to be the world’s front-runner on vaccine distribution. A 2019 Johns Hopkins study Israel an unspectacular 54th among 195 countries in terms of preparedness for a pandemic. After initially the coronavirus, Israel has since suffered some of the world’s worst outbreaks— as it celebrates its vaccine advances. And during a pandemic in which has emerged as arguably the most consistent ingredient across countries for success in combatting the virus, public confidence in Israel’s political leaders . The Israeli government currently has the distinction of being in the democratic world.