Almost 63 million people have been vaccinated in the Americas and the Caribbean in the last two months, while last week the number of deaths and those infected have dropped by 10% in the region, the Pan American Health Organization reported on Wednesday (OPS).

“Two months after the first vaccine was applied, almost 63 million people have been vaccinated against covid-19 throughout the Americas and in the Caribbean, which means that there are more people protected every day,” said the director of PAHO, Carissa Etienne, at a virtual press conference.

According to the official, “most of those vaccinated are from northern countries.”

“And while these figures are encouraging, they are not enough,” he admitted. To benefit from the herd immunity of vaccines, the immunity of the herd, the coverage must be very high ”.

The PAHO director estimated that “more than 700 million people in the Americas would have to be vaccinated against covid-19 to guarantee 70% coverage.”

THE FIGURES BACK

Etienne also stressed that, during the last week, “more than 1.2 million people in the Americas were infected with covid-19 and 39,000 died from the virus.”

“And while these figures are overwhelming, they represent a 10% decrease compared to the previous weeks. This shows that public health interventions are helping to keep the virus under control, ”he noted.

The official explained that in North America “new infections are decreasing, giving hospitals much deserved relief.”

The downward trend extends to all Central American countries, with the exception of Honduras, which so far this year “has consistently reported an increase in the number of infections.”

By contrast, he added, Uruguay “is finally seeing a drop in the number of cases after a difficult start to the year.”

Most countries in South America have reported declines in the numbers, although “acute foci” persist near the border between Peru, Colombia and Brazil.

In the Caribbean, the largest and most populated islands such as the Dominican Republic continue to register new infections, as well as in other smaller ones such as Aruba, Barbados, Saint Lucia and Saint Vincent and the Grenadines.

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