The 3 Latin American countries that do not reach 10% of those vaccinated against the coronavirus

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) warned on Wednesday that vaccination against coronavirus in Jamaica, Nicaragua and Haiti it does not reach 10% of the population, and urged to monitor localized outbreaks of contagion of the virus throughout the American continent.

Only 37% of people in Latin America and the Caribbean have completed the immunization scheme against the covid-19, and the advancement of vaccination in the region is uneven, PAHO Director Carissa Etienne said at a press conference.

“While seven countries and territories in the Americas have vaccinated more than 70% of their populations, the same number has not yet vaccinated 20%. Jamaica, Nicaragua and Haiti have not yet reached even 10% coverage, ”he said, urging countries with excess doses to share them with the region.

Etienne pointed out that in the last month the contagion of covid-19 in the entire American continent decreased, although there is still a high number of cases, with local trends that “continue to be worrisome.”

It highlighted spikes in hospitalization in many provinces in southwestern Canada, a major outbreak in Alaska, and high rates of new infections in Cuba, Bermuda and Barbados.

In addition, it reported an increase in the occupancy of beds in intensive care in Costa Rica and Belize, and an increase in new infections in the metropolitan region of Santiago and the port cities of Coquimbo and Antofagasta, in Chile.

“Governments must closely monitor local trends because the dynamics of infection vary greatly within each country, in part due to differences in vaccine availability and acceptance,” he said.

New agreements with Sinopharm and AstraZeneca

In order to accelerate vaccination in the continent, PAHO announced that it has concluded two new agreements to offer additional anticovid vaccines to its member countries.

These doses are complementary to those obtained through bilateral agreements and donations, or through the global Covax mechanism promoted by the WHO.

The agreement with the Chinese pharmaceutical Sinovac reported last week was joined by others with the Chinese Sinopharm and the Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca.

PAHO Deputy Director Jarbas Barbosa noted that there will be 18.5 million doses of Sinovac and AstraZeneca available this year and vaccines from the three producers in 2022, depending on the quantities requested by the countries.

Barbosa explained that only immunizers with WHO endorsement can be purchased by PAHO’s revolving fund, which offers vaccines considered effective and safe at affordable prices to all member countries.

And he encouraged “all vaccine producers in the world to participate in the process because then there will be more vaccines available.”

PAHO is assisting Cuba in the process to obtain a green light from the WHO for its anticovid vaccines, which would boost their commercialization.

“We already had a meeting with the WHO team and the vaccine producers. And we are going to have other meetings, because our interest is that all vaccines (against covid-19) can participate in the WHO process to receive authorization for emergency use, ”said Barbosa.

Sovereign decisions

So far, the WHO has approved the vaccines from Pfizer / BioNTech, AstraZeneca / Oxford, Johnson & Johnson, Moderna, Sinopharm, and Sinovac. Other vaccines remain under study, including Russia’s Sputnik V, France’s Sanofi, and America’s Novavax.

National regulatory agencies of Venezuela, Vietnam, Iran and Nicaragua have already authorized the use of Cuban anticovid vaccines.

Asked about this, Barbosa stressed that they are sovereign decisions of the countries, and declined to comment on the efficacy of vaccines that did not complete the WHO prequalification process.

“It’s not that they can be bad or good, we just can’t talk about what our colleagues in Geneva haven’t carefully reviewed,” he said.

Cuba announced in September the beginning of exchanges with WHO experts for the recognition of anticovid vaccines produced by the state pharmaceutical company BioCubaFarma.

BioCubaFarma’s Soberana 01, Soberana 02, Soberana Plus and Abdala vaccines appear to be interested in being evaluated by the WHO as of September 29, the latest PAHO update of the prequalification process for immunizers before the WHO.

According to this document, the four vaccines are based on a protein from the SARS-CoV-2 virus, chemically conjugated to meningococcus B, tetanus toxoid or aluminum.

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