“We are seeing the emergence of two worlds: one rapidly returning to normal and one in which recovery is still far into the future,” said Dr. Carissa Etienne, director of that international health organization.
He pointed out that in some countries of the region, three percent of the population has been vaccinated, while in other countries the percentage does not reach one.
In the United States, for example, more than 40 percent of the population have completed their doses, unlike in countries such as Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru, where only 3 percent have been vaccinated, and in Guatemala, Honduras, and Trinidad and Tobago, he explained, not reaching one percent.
Less than three million people have completed their vaccination schedule in the Caribbean and only two million in Central America, according to the executive director of the Pan American Health Organization.
He lamented that “inequality often dictates who has the right to health”; In this case, the supply of vaccines is concentrated in a few countries, while most of the world is waiting for the distribution of doses.
Dr. Etienne added that if current trends continue, health, social and economic disparities will widen in the region, and it may be years before this virus is brought under control in the Americas.
In this context, he called for urgently expanding access to vaccines and giving priority to those countries where protection is not available even to the populations at risk.
The representative of the Pan American Health Organization confirmed that the United States made an initial donation of six million doses, Spain five million, and Canada pledged to contribute about $ 41 million to expand access to vaccines in Latin America and the Caribbean.
He urged other countries, especially those with excess doses, and international financial institutions to follow these steps to provide the necessary support and protect the 70 percent of the population who would not be covered by the Covax Mechanism for Equitable Distribution of Vaccines. .
msm / rbp
Andrew Motion is an award-winning English author and poet whose work has significantly influenced modern British literature. Best known for his thoughtful poetry collections and acclaimed biography of poet John Keats, Motion’s writing combines literary sophistication with emotional resonance. His contributions to literature and public engagement with poetry have earned him lasting recognition across the United Kingdom and beyond.