🌎 14 countries and territories in our region have already immunized more than 70% of their eligible population.
We’re on track to help other nations reach that mark and must continue to strive for equitable access so that we can reach everyone.
🌎 We are also thankful for donations of vaccines by nine countries, which made up 30% of that 100 million dose milestone.
🌎 We have now delivered 100 million doses of COVID-19 vaccines to 33 countries in Latin America and the Caribbean, thanks to the work of PAHO’s Revolving Fund in coordination with COVAX.
🌎 Omicron has shown that the vaccines we have at hand can protect most of us from severe illness and death.
🌎 Unvaccinated people of all ages are still filling up our hospitals and ICU beds. Too many are succumbing to this virus.
🌎 The truth is that the reduced public health measures were insufficient to reduce the scale of this wave.
Many people in our region remain unprotected against COVID and have yet to receive lifesaving vaccines.
🌎 Unfortunately, as Omicron arrived, the tools we had developed to slow the spread and prevent infections were not adequate for the new kind of transmission patterns that Omicron presents.
🌎 Undoubtedly, Omicron overtook us.
This variant spread more quickly than others, and we are dealing with a greater volume of cases than ever before.
🌎 COVID-19 has been deadlier in the Americas than in any other region.
We have lost more than 2.5 million people over the course of the pandemic.
And in the first month of 2022 alone, over 100,000 people died due to this virus.
🌎 COVID-19 is a preventable disease – and right now, we are losing far too many lives.
