Two hundred and forty million people have not been vaccinated against Covid-19 in the Americaswhere cases and deaths from coronavirus have decreased but the risk of new waves remains, reported this Wednesday the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
More than 685 million people in the region have completed the vaccination schedule and 50 countries and territories have already begun administering booster dose that are key for people with a higher risk of developing a severe form of the disease, informed the director of PAHO Carissa Etienne at a virtual press conference.
“But the gaps that still exist will keep our Region at risk during future waves” since “240 million people in the Americas have not yet received a single dose of the vaccine,” Etienne said.
In recent weeks, cases and deaths from Covid-19 have fallen in most of the countries and territories of the Americasbut there are still more than 620,000 new cases every week and, in some places, infections are rising again, such as in Canada and the Caribbean.
These increases come just weeks after sudden spikes in Europe and East Asia as the pandemic spread. subvariant of Omicron BA.2which has already been detected in 8.7% of the sequences performed in South America.
The circulation of Omicron drives new waves of Covid-19 due, among other reasons, to the increase in tourism and travel, “and the relaxation of public health measures”, in some cases “prematurely”, Etienne warns.
In addition to vaccination, the PAHO director warns countries that they have to continue monitoring the virus to track its spread.
Changing the testing strategy as some countries are doing “makes it difficult to get a complete picture of BA.2“, warns Etienne, who also recommends that decisions be made based “on the data”.
As travel restrictions were eased, cases increased in places that rely on tourism, especially in parts of North America and the Caribbean where vaccination coverage is low, so “it is important to continue to trust the data” and adjust strategies, he concludes.