PAHO: 750 million COVID jabs delivered to half Caribbean, Latin American population

Roughly half the people of the Caribbean and Latin America have been fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) has declared.

But the PAHO Director Dr Carissa Etienne wanted that despite the delivery of 750 million doses across the Americas, vaccination levels vary sharply across the region while infections and deaths skyrocket in some countries as their health systems buckle under the sheer number of sick patients.

Nearly 3.5 million additional doses of COVID-19 vaccines are slated to arrive in the region this week that will “[help] us reach even more people”, she said.

Assistant Director Dr Jarbas Barbosa da Silva Jr., said the quarter-billion million doses include the single-dose Johnson and Johnson vaccine and double-dose vaccines.

Both PAHO leaders were speaking during a weekly COVID-19 digital media briefing on Wednesday.

But despite the number of vaccinations administered, many countries remain far behind in coverage, the PAHO chief warned.

“Less than 20 per cent of people have been fully vaccinated in Guatemala, Jamaica, and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and vaccination coverage remains in single digits in Nicaragua and Haiti,” she said.

Dr Etienne said the COVID-19 case count continues to fluctuate across the Americas.

Some of the most populous countries, like the United States, Brazil, and Colombia, are seeing a levelling of new infections after weeks of declining trends, the PAHO chief noted.

Barbados and the Dominican Republic are reporting a steady rise in new infections among Caribbean countries while in Canada, cases and hospitalisations continue to drop, she said.

“The Cayman Islands is experiencing its highest incidence of COVID infections to date, and two-thirds of these cases are among the unvaccinated. Meanwhile, Trinidad and Tobago is witnessing a sharp rise in COVID deaths as ICU (intensive care unit) beds fill with COVID patients,” she told journalists.

She said that countries across Central and South America are seeing a decline in new infections, except for Bolivia, which continues to experience rising cases.

“It bears repeating that the COVID-19 pandemic is still very active in our region,” Dr. Etienne said.

“As we near the holiday season, we remind everyone that it’s up to all of us to keep each other safe by getting vaccinated and following the health measures that have proven effective against the virus, like [physical] distancing and mask-wearing.” (BT)