PAHO and Canada increase access to Covid-19 vaccines in Latin America and the Caribbean

Jamaica, Haiti and Colombia will split three-quarters of the $33.4 million.

The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) and the Government of Canada announced in Jamaica that they have resumed collaboration to increase access to vaccines against Covid-19 for lagging populations in Latin America and the Caribbean.

In this way, Canada will provide 33.4 million dollars to PAHO in its support for the health response, adding another 40 million that the North American country granted to the Pan American organization in May 2021.

Of those 33.4 million, three-quarters will be divided for Jamaica, Haiti and Colombia, as announced Friday afternoon in the Jamaican capital, Kingston, during the Canada Global Initiative for Vaccination Equality event.

This project is dedicated to supporting countries in the shipment and distribution of vaccines, and includes efforts to increase vaccination confidence and enhance vaccine production in the Caribbean region.

“I commend the Government of Canada for its continued support to PAHO and the countries of the region in facing the pandemic, building efforts to achieve optimal levels of health and contribute to the well-being of citizens in the Americas,” said the director of Health Emergencies. of PAHO, Ciro Ugarte.

Given this, Ugarte emphasized that “the pandemic is not over.”

For this reason, he mentioned that last December the American region reported more than 3.6 million new cases of covid-19 and 18,000 deaths.

Ugarte also said that while a little more than 70% of the region’s population has received at least the first dose of the vaccine, still 203 million people have not been inoculated with that first vaccination.

For his part, Canada’s Minister of International Development, Harjit Sajjan, added that the alliance with PAHO will help improve access to vaccines against covid-19, especially for people in vulnerable situations, including women and girls.

“It will also help in vaccination surveillance and support health system workers,” he indicated.

With the additional funds, PAHO will also support member states in Latin America and the Caribbean by strengthening their health systems and immunization programs and incorporating vaccinations against covid-19 into regular inoculation schedules.

The collaboration will also help the implementation of information systems and digital platforms for the surveillance of vaccinated people, research to collect evidence on the perception and acceptance of vaccines and motivate to exceed vaccination goals.

PAHO and Canada have supported 22 other countries in strengthening their capacity to safely manage and distribute Covid-19 vaccines, which would mark a large long-term investment that will improve their immunization programs and health systems.

EFE

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