COVID-19-free Palau could be among the first to reach herd immunity

To date, in the U.S., some 6.5% of the population has received at least one COVID-19 vaccine dose. Alaska is currently the frontrunner in vaccinating its population. Almost 12% of Alaskans have received at least one dose.

But two U.S.-linked countries — Palau and American Samoa — have vaccinated more people per capita than any U.S. state. More than 17% of the inhabitants of Palau, a cluster of more than 500 islands east of the Philippines, have received at least one dose. For American Samoa, the same figure is 14.6%.

The U.S. territories, Guam and the Northern Mariana Islands have also administered more COVID-19 vaccine doses per capita than any U.S. state other than Alaska and West Virginia.

Palau (population 18,000) is noteworthy in that it has reported no COVID-19 cases to the World Health Organization. Neither had American Samoa.

Like Israel, Palau could also be among the first countries in the world to vaccinate the majority of its population. Palau’s Ministry of Health plans to have the majority of its population immunized by April.

The country has opted to primarily use the vaccine from Moderna (NSDQ:MRNA) as it does not have the ultracold storage requirements of the vaccine from Pfizer (NYSE:PFE). The island-nation, however, has acquired an ultracold freezer to accommodate up to 5,000 vaccine doses.