Best known for its exotic beaches, Palau now has another reason to be proud.
The tiny Pacific state is now a world champion in vaccinations against it Covid-19, the Red Cross announced on Thursday.
99% of residents over the age of 12 are now fully vaccinated, the organization said, calling on neighboring countries to follow suit.
The archipelago of about 500 islands in the western Pacific has a population of just 18.000 people, according to 2018 data.
There are other countries in the Pacific region with impressive performance, Reuters notes: the Cook Islands, with a population of 17.000, have fully vaccinated 96%, while Fiji, with a population of 890.000, has given the first dose to 96% of the population. entitled to a vaccine.
The numbers, however, are disappointing in other countries in the region. Less than 650.000% have been vaccinated in the Solomon Islands (population 119.000) and Kiribati (10), while in Papua New Guinea, 150 km north of Australia, only 1% have been vaccinated, the Red Cross said, citing data from Our World. in Data.
According to the same source, to date 48% of the world's population has received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Other countries with high full vaccination coverage are the United Arab Emirates with 85%, Portugal with 86% and Spain with 79%.
in.gr
