AstraZeneca, the People's Vaccine?

Vaxzevria, the coronavirus vaccine developed by international pharma giant AstraZeneca, is currently approved in 134 countries worldwide, three more than the U.S.-German joint venture Pfizer-BioNTech. As our chart shows, the vaccines most widely available and vetted originate in Western countries like the UK and aforementioned Germany and the United States.

Rounding out the top 3 according to data accumulated by COVID-19 Vaccine Tracker is Johnson & Johnson, which successfully protects against all strains up to Delta but has been suspected to be less effective against Omicron. The variant, which was first discovered in South Africa but didn't necessarily originate from the country, is rapidly becoming the predominant iteration of the coronavirus in many countries around the world due to its high transmissibility – and is also a cause of concern for Chinese and Russian vaccine manufacturers.

Sputnik V, which is approved in 74 countries but has yet to be vetted by the WHO and the European Medicines Agency, was the subject of conflicting reports in December, with a Russian study claiming a robust response to the newest variant and an international study conducted on samples from various sources in the U.S., Italy, Pakistan and Buenos Aires proposing an almost non-existent antibody response after a third shot of the Russian vaccine. The same study also questioned the effectiveness of Covilo, produced by Chinese pharma company Sinopharm and available in 85 countries around the world, in the face of Omicron. The other major Chinese vaccine, Sinovac, is apparently also less effective against the newest variant. According to a study by Yale University, a combination of two shots of the original vaccine and a Pfizer-BioNTech booster provided the same antibody response as two shots of mRNA vaccines.

Overall, China has administered the most shots to its population, standing at 2.9 billion jabs for its population of 1.4 billion compared to 1.5 billion in India, 1.1 billion in Europe and 521 million in the U.S. according to Our World in Data. While previous measures undertaken by the People's Republic have been largely successful to curb the spread of the Alpha, Beta and Delta variants, the challenges posed by the Omicron variant and the apparent decline in efficacy of its home-grown vaccines are likely to change the situation in the future.