Which country had a higher vaccination rate, Sweden or Australia, by the end of 2022?

1. What the sources say about Australia’s COVID‑19 vaccination coverage

Australian reporting included in the results documents that adult two‑dose COVID‑19 coverage was very high: coverage “rapidly reached >95% in adults in Australia by late 2021,” and by December 4, 2022 booster uptake had slowed with 72.4% for dose 3 and 44.3% for dose 4 among adults ^{[1] [3]}. Other analyses of Australia’s mass vaccination efforts describe a nationwide campaign beginning in February 2021 that ultimately achieved high coverage and prevented substantial mortality during the Delta and Omicron waves ^[4]. These are specific, sourced figures for Australia’s adult vaccination levels and booster uptake as of late 2022 ^{[1] [4]}.

2. What the sources say (and do not say) about Sweden’s COVID‑19 vaccination coverage

The materials provided do not contain a straightforward national December 2022 COVID‑19 vaccination percentage for Sweden. A comparative passage in a Royal Commission‑style review of vaccine rollouts refers to relative timing — Sweden achieved “the equivalent coverage” 40 days earlier than New Zealand on a particular metric — but that document is about New Zealand’s rollout and does not state Sweden’s absolute end‑2022 percentage ^[2]. Other items in the search set concern routine immunisation (e.g., measles in Sweden) or opinion pieces about pandemic interpretation but do not supply a clear Sweden COVID‑19 coverage number for end‑2022 ^{[5] [6]}. Therefore, the exact Sweden end‑2022 COVID‑19 vaccination rate is not found in the current reporting.

3. How to interpret the timing comparison in the New Zealand lessons report

The New Zealand report compares the pace at which that country reached certain cumulative coverage levels to other countries, noting the equivalent coverage was achieved “40 days earlier in Sweden” and “4 days earlier in Australia” relative to New Zealand’s timeline ^[2]. This comparison indicates Sweden and Australia both achieved similar milestones relative to New Zealand, with Sweden earlier than Australia on that specific metric — but it does not directly answer which country had the higher final coverage at the end of 2022 because the metric is relative timing, not absolute end‑point percentages ^[2].

4. Why direct country‑to‑country comparisons can be misleading without the same metric

The sources illustrate two common pitfalls: (a) different metrics (two‑dose coverage, booster doses, child immunisation, timing to reach thresholds) are reported across documents, and (b) timing of when a threshold was reached does not equal a higher final rate at a fixed date. For Australia we have adult two‑dose >95% and booster uptake figures as of Dec 4, 2022 ^[1]. For Sweden, the provided files include vaccination‑related discussions and non‑COVID immunisation stats (measles coverage) but do not offer a like‑for‑like national COVID‑19 percentage for end‑2022, so a direct measured comparison is not present in these sources ^{[5] [6]}.

5. Bottom line and what’s missing

Based on the supplied reporting, Australia’s adult two‑dose COVID‑19 coverage exceeded 95% by late 2021 and booster uptake levels are quantified to Dec 4, 2022 ^[1]. The provided sources do not contain an explicit Sweden national COVID‑19 vaccination percentage at the end of 2022, so they do not allow a definitive, sourced statement that “Australia had a higher vaccination rate than Sweden at end‑2022” or vice versa ^{[2] [1]}. To answer the original question with certainty you should consult direct national vaccination dashboards or international aggregators (e.g., Sweden Public Health Agency, Our World in Data) — those data sources are not included among the documents you supplied, so they are outside the scope of this analysis ^[2].