​PAHO has urged countries with surplus Covid-19 vaccines to donate immunizations to nations in the Americas. | Photo: Prensa Latina

Washington, November 18 (RHC)-- The director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Carissa Etienne reports that in Latin America and the Caribbean more than half of the population has received the complete vaccination schedule against COVID-19.

Although nearly 3.5 million doses of Sar Cov-2 drugs will arrive in the region this week and may boost the increase in inoculation, Carissa Etienne stressed that "many countries are lagging behind."

Less than 20 percent of people have been fully immunized in Guatemala, Jamaica and St. Vincent and the Grenadines, and vaccination coverage remains in the single digits in Nicaragua and Haiti, she said.

While pointing out that last week there were almost 760,000 new positive cases of the disease and 12,800 deaths reported in the region, Carissa Etienne said that in Uruguay and Chile, by relaxing public health measures, there is evidence of an increase in the number of infected people, despite their high inoculation coverage. 

PAHO also stated that there was a five percent decrease in the number of infections in the region during the previous week and a 17 percent decrease in new deaths.  Although in other countries this situation is not observed, as stated by PAHO Deputy Director, Jarbas Barbosa, who said that the United States, Brazil and Colombia registered an increase in the number of Sar Cov-2 positives.

In the Caribbean, the rate of COVID-19 positive cases continues to increase in the Dominican Republic and Barbados, as well as in the Cayman Islands and Trinidad and Tobago, where a high incidence of infected people was noted.  Therefore, Carissa Etienne reiterated that "the COVID-19 pandemic remains very active in our region.