New Delhi, December 19: The pace of global vaccination against coronavirus is expected to gain speed, with the United States on Friday approving its second vaccine candidate, granting clearance to Moderna Inc. A slew  of other countries, in the days to come, are expected to clear the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. So far, over 1.2 million persons across the world have been vaccinated. Moderna COVID-19 Vaccine Shows 'No Specific Safety Concern', Says US Drug Regulator FDA.

The maximum number of persons have been incolculated in China, where the vaccine has been administered to 650,000 citizens till November 28. Notably, the shots have been given as part of the emergency usage and trials purpose. The regulatory clearance for usage is awaited by all the Chinese vaccine candidates.

In Russia, where the Sputnik V vaccine was launched in August and was found to be 91.5 percent effective at the completion of trials this month, a total of 320,000 persons have been vaccinated.

The third highest number of vaccinated individuals, so far, are in the UK where the government had till December 15 recorded 137,897 people as vaccinated. The maximum number of doses - 108,000 - were provided in England, followed by 18,000 in Scotland, 7,897 in Wales and 5,300 in Northern Ireland.

In the US, where the vaccine was administered to 127,665 persons so far, the maximum doses - around 224,000 were allotted to Texas. The allocation of vaccine doses is based on the state's population. The country expects to vaccinate the entire population falling under the high-risk group by mid-2021.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Dec 19, 2020 09:43 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).