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Developing countries now account for more of the COVID-19s daily global death toll, at 85 percent and climbing, than high-income countries. Thanks to high vaccination rates, deaths in these rich countries have fallen from 59 to 15 percent of the global share, an all-time low, according to the Brookings Institution. The signs of this switch are jarring. Vaccinated Americans are reading up on how to make the most of a summer vacation in Europe, while unvaccinated Indians are searching for tips on how to stay alive. (Chelsea Clinton and Achal Prabhala, 6/20)

Before thousands descended on St. Petersburg for Russia’s annual economic forum this month, the local governor boasted to radio listeners that no one had held an event of a similar scale since the pandemic struck. A few days later, President Vladimir Putin told the audience that his country was in a better virus position than most and would quickly open to vaccine tourists. The triumphalism proved premature. Russia has seen a spike in COVID-19 cases over the past two weeks, with numbers at the highest in months and the added threat of troublesome new variants. Moscow Mayor Sergei Sobyanin declared an extended holiday to curb what he called an “explosive” growth in infections, and on June 16 went further, ordering the city’s service sector and municipal employees to get vaccinated. The Kremlin has said for months that there are no plans for compulsory jabs. (Clara Ferreira Marques, 6/19)

Other places in the country may be shooting off fireworks to hail the end of covid-19 restrictions, thanks to vaccination successes such as the 70 percent rate for adults in New York state. Nobody is lighting end-of-covid celebratory fireworks in Detroit. There, just 36.8 percent of residents age 12 and up have received at least one shot. Like many other U.S. cities, Detroit was battered by covid soon after the coronavirus began spreading last year and in subsequent waves. The city’s 2,419 dead include the beloved sheriff of Wayne County, high-profile community leaders, cops, firefighters and health-care workers. Everyone in southeast Michigan seemed to know or know of someone who had been sick with covid or died from it. (Micheline Maynard, 6/18)