Month: April 2021

This edition provides an international comparison of COVID vaccination rates across continents. As of April 28, over 1.08 billion COVID vaccinations have been given in all countries since the start of the pandemic. Nearly 578 million people have been partially vaccinated and nearly 254 million people have been fully vaccinated. Nearly one in five of all vaccinations given thus far have been in Asia, followed by one in four in North America and one in five in Europe. Internationally, 13.8 vaccinations have been given per 100 persons and just 3.2% of the world population is fully vaccinated.  The highest share of full vaccination among the population has occurred in North America (18%) and the lowest in Oceania (0.1%), Africa (0.4%), and Asia (1.3%).

This week’s edition of our 5 Slide Series provides updates of weekly trends in COVID cases, deaths, and vaccinations at both the state and national level. We show both positive and concerning news from the front of the battle against the pandemic. First, both confirmed cases and deaths have declined week-over-week (April 14-20 vs April 7-April 13), but average cases for the month of April have been 15% higher than their March monthly average. New daily deaths, meanwhile, have plummeted to a low not seen in months. Deaths for the month of April have so far averaged 674 a day—37% and 70% below the March and February monthly averages, respectively.

This edition provides an overview of how COVID cases and deaths have changed over the past month. New COVID cases for the first 11 days of April were up 16.3% and new deaths were down 53.7% compared to the first 11 days of March. The increased case volume is concerning and the seven day average in daily deaths has flattened out near 1,000 during the past week.