12 countries where under 1 have had Covid jab - amid deadly mutation warning

A chilling interactive map shows the huge inequality in numbers of people vaccinated across the world - amid warnings of deadly mutant strains developing as a result.

In at least 12 countries, less than one per cent of the population has received a single jab, latest data shows.

And a further 22 have less than one per cent receiving their second jab.

Experts warn that vaccine inequality could cause new variants to rip across the world, with mutant strains more likely to develop in places where fewer people have been vaccinated.

As wealthy countries power through their inoculation programs, figures show that many of the world's poorer countries are being left behind.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has administered less than 82,000 first doses - meaning a mere 0.1 per cent of the population has been jabbed.

Haiti, South Sudan, Turkmenistan, Algeria, Mali, Benin, Burkina Faso, Chad, Madagascar, Syria and Papua New Guinea have also vaccinated less than one in 100 people with one dose, according to Our Wold in Data.

This week, a new report warned that deadly new strains of the virus could emerge if rich nations do not share.

Sir Jeremy Farrar, chairman of think tank the Wellcome Trust and one of the UK's government's Sage committee advisors, said: “If we don’t vaccinate the world we’re in danger of generating new variants, which, like the Delta variant, will come back to all of us in the future â€" and they may be much worse than Delta."

He warned that the inequality represents a huge ethical failure, stating: “For geopolitics, for science and public health, and for the moral and ethical argument, we have to make the vaccine available globally.

"And I’m afraid, to date, we’ve failed to do that.”

Data shows that 23 countries, 17 of which are in Africa, have fully vaccinated less than one per cent of their population.

The Democratic Republic of Congo, Haiti, Chad, Guineau Bissau and South Sudan have the world's lowest figure, with less than one in a thousand people receiving two doses.

Syria, Afghanistan, Nigeria, Cameroon, Yemen, Liberia, Zambia and Malawi are also among the countries where less than one per cent of the population have had two jabs.

It stands in stark contrast with the situations among richer nations, many of which are beginning the tentative process of returning to normal.

By comparison 68.8 per cent of everyone in the UK, and 88.3 per cent of adults, have received a first jab in the UK, while 55.4 per cent had been given a second.

Countries with less than one per cent who have had one jab

Haiti - less than 0.1 per cent

Democratic Republic of Congo - less than 0.1 per cent

Chad - 0.1 per cent

Burkina Faso - 0.2 per cent

Algeria - 0.2 per cent

Benin - 0.4 per cent

South Sudan - 0.5 per cent

Turkmenistan - 0.5 per cent

Syria - 0.7 per cent

Madagascar - 0.7 per cent

Mali - 0.7 per cent

Papua New Guinea - 0.9 per cent

(Source: Our World in Data)

The UK is one of 17 countries where more than half the population is fully vaccinated.

Others include Spain, Italy, Ireland, Canada, Iceland, Israel, Portugal, Cyprus, the UAE, Belgium, Germany and Uruguay.

The uneven progress of vaccinations around the world have sparked warnings that a return to normal could be jeopardised if a new strain develops.

This is most likely to happen in places where rates are high and the number of people with immunity is low.

World Health Organisation general director Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesu has warned that vaccine sharing was “only a trickle, which is being outpaced by variants”.

The Democratic Republic of Congo has one of the lowest vaccination rates on the planet ( REUTERS)

He said that by July next year, 70 per cent of people in every country will need to be vaccinated.

Dr Tedros said: “This is the best way to slow the pandemic, save lives and drive a truly global economic recovery, and along the way prevent further dangerous variants from getting the upper hand."

Yesterday the UK government said it has begun delivering nine million vaccines around the world, with Indonesia, Jamaica and Kenya among the countries set to receive them.

Five million of these doses will be distributed through COVAX, the global scheme designed to share vaccines around the world.

A further four million will be shared with "countries in need".

COVAX has so far distributed an estimated 136 million doses, split between 120 countries.

World leaders at the G7 summit committed to sharing one billion doses - but this is only enough to give one dose to just 13 per cent of the world's population.

World Health Organisation chief Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus has warned that vaccine inequality could be dangerous ( REUTERS)

Yesterday Professor Sir John Bell, Regius Professor of Medicine at Oxford University, said: "I think it is a bit self-indulgent, to be honest, of western countries fretting about these kinds of issues (what rights to afford the fully vaccinated) when the vast majority of the globe remains completely unvaccinated, with massive levels of viral replication sweeping through the population.

"If you want variants, you've got the perfect storm for that, and it is not in Watford - it is in Zimbabwe and Rwanda and South Africa."

Sir John said the UK's decision to send the first batch of doses abroad was welcome and "long overdue", but added there was "more heavy lifting to do" to tackle the pandemic by helping poorer nations to put vaccine distribution systems in place.

"Otherwise it will be a hugely unproductive activity, with vaccines sitting on the shelves and so on," he added.

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