Washington, Oct 27 (Prensa Latina) Nearly 44% of people in Latin America and the Caribbean have completed their Covid-19 immunizations, thanks largely to donations, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Assistant Director Jarbas Barbosa said Wednesday.
In PAHO´s weekly press briefing on the impact of the pandemic in the Americas, Dr. Barbosa said that Guatemala, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, Jamaica, Nicaragua and Haiti have vaccinated less than 20% of their populations.
The good news is that over three million doses will be sent to South American countries through the Covax mechanism and deliveries will recover in these last months of the year, Barbosa stressed.
In this way, Barbosa stressed, we will be able to continue tackling one of greatest challenges affecting humanity: inequity in vaccination, he remarked.
In America, Covid-19 infections and deaths dropped with some exceptions, Barbosa pointed out, while reporting that Belize is currently facing up a sharp increased coronavirus death toll and Paraguay is seeing an upward trend in the last week.
Some Caribbean countries are now reaching their first pandemic peaks including St. Kitts and Nevis, Barbados, Anguilla and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, reporting highest Covid-19 infections and deaths.
It is critical that countries continue to implement public health measures – wearing face masks, social distancing, and limiting large gatherings – to control outbreaks, especially as many of them are still struggling to expand immunization coverage, Barbosa warned.
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