Despite the rollout of COVID-19 vaccines in a number of countries, the global vaccination timeline would extend into 2023, according to a new report by the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU).
India, which is currently vaccinating its citizens faster than any other country, is expected to inoculate 60-70 percent of its adult population not before late 2022, the report claimed.
China is also expected to complete the mass inoculation programme by late next year. Both the countries, despite being ahead in their vaccination developments, would require a larger time period for mass immunisation due to their populations of over 1.3 billion.
Most of Africa would lack widespread access to vaccines till early 2023, the report showed.
The projection is in accordance with the recent apprehensions raised by the United Nations, which warned of "unequal access" to vaccines due to the rich-poor divide among nations.
"More than 85 poor countries will not have widespread access to coronavirus vaccines before 2023," the report claimed.
The only exception in the African continent is South Africa, which is expected to vaccinate most of its adult population by mid-2022.
Countries in Asia, including Vietnam, South Korea and Japan, are also expected to complete vaccination among 60-70 percent of their population by the above timeframe.
The countries to complete mass vaccination at the earliest are expected to be the US, Canada, Russia, the UK and most of the European countries. They are likely to inoculate up to 70 percent of their adult population by late 2021.
The criteria taken into account by the EIU researchers, while making the global vaccination timeline projection, include supply deals, production constraints, vaccine hesitancy, the size of the population, and the availability of healthcare workers.
The report stresses on the rich-poor divide to highlight the disparity in global vaccine distribution. The access to vaccines would be earlier in countries with higher economic resources, as compared to the developing and underdeveloped world.
"The contrast between rich countries and poorer ones is stark. Most developing countries will not have widespread access to the shots before 2023 at the earliest," said EIU Global Forecasting Director Agathe Demarais.
"Some of these countries—particularly poorer ones with a young demographic profile—may well lose the motivation to distribute vaccines, especially if the disease has spread widely or if the associated costs prove too high," Demarais added.
The first vaccine against COVID-19 was approved by the drug regulators in the UK, back in December. The candidate jointly developed by Pfizer and BioNTech was given the nod.
The UK, as of January 29, recorded the highest vaccination rate, with 11.67 doses being administered per 100 people in the country.