At the U.S.’ current reported rate of vaccination, it would take nearly 10 years to bring the pandemic under control. 

In the meantime, Israel has already vaccinated around 12% of its (admittedly fewer) residents— a larger proportion than any other country. 

As of January 2, 4.2 million people (about 1% of the U.S. population) had received their first shot. 

Reporting lags are likely distorting the actual figure. But it still falls far short of federal health officials’ goal of 20 million doses before 2021, likely due to strained health care systems, unforeseen logistical issues and vaccine hesitancy.

Some experts are suggesting delaying the second vaccine shot in favor of dispersing the initial injections more widely, as the first doses of both the Pzfizer-BioNTech and Moderna vaccines seem to offer some virus protection. But Dr. Anthony Fauci opposes the idea and has said that the U.S. will continue with its current schedule, despite British health officials’ decision to delay second vaccine doses. 

China and Russia authorized their own vaccines in July and August— before their clinical trials were complete— and have since administered millions of doses. China has reported 4.5 million first dose vaccinations (.32% of its population) and Russia 800,000 (.55% of its population).