PAHO alerts about slow pace of Covid-19 vaccination in LatAm

Washington, Jun 17 (Prensa Latina) Only one of 10 people in Latin America and the Caribbean completed their coronavirus vaccination schedule. Hospitals are about to collapse and Covid-19 variants are currently spreading swiftly, warned Dr. Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).

June 17, 2021
07:24

‘We´re a region with more than 600 million people in which Covid-19 cases are increasing and vaccine doses are urgently needed,’ Dr. Etienne said Wednesday during PAHO´s weekly health briefing.

Referring to coronavirus´ lethal spread, Dr. Etienne stressed that over 1.1 million coronavirus cases and 31,000 deaths were reported in last week in the Americas including the United States and Canada.

She pointed out that four of the five countries with highest weekly Covid-19 death toll reported around the globe were registered in the Americas.

Dr. Etienne highlighted the high acceptance of vaccines in Latin America and the Caribbean, where regional people are having a hankering for getting vaccinated. However, not enough doses even to protect the most vulnerable are yet received.

‘We have a long tradition of immunizations and confidence in the power of the vaccines to save lives,’ she said.

pgh/Pll/jf / rbp