HAVANA, Cuba, Apr 15 (ACN) Cuba ranks 10th among 51 countries or territories in the Americas for total doses of anti-COVID-19 vaccines applied, according to the most recent update of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO).
According to a note published in Prensa Latina, with more than 35 million doses, Cuba follows the United States, Brazil, Mexico, Argentina, Colombia, Canada, Peru, Chile and Venezuela, while in terms of the complete scheme per 100 people, only Puerto Rico, Cayman Islands and Chile are ahead.
For this last index, PAHO considered the sum of the last dose of the primary regimen, that is, the second or third dose according to the country’s regulations, and the only dose for those countries that included only one dose.
Up to that date, the Americas recorded 768 million 583,053 doses administered, 687 million 631,972 people received the whole scheme and 317 million 759,881 an additional one.
However, PAHO director Carissa Etienne warned last week that 240 million inhabitants of this part of the planet have not yet received a single dose of any anti-COVID-19 immunogen, particularly those located in hard-to-reach rural areas and in underserved communities.
Etienne considered that the SARVS-CoV-2 virus (which causes COVID-19) exacerbated inequalities and brought about new ones in relation to access to vaccines, and noted that this situation will keep the region at risk during future waves.
In November last year, Cuba, with its own drugs (Soberana 02, Soberana Plus and Abdala), surpassed the goal set for the first half of 2022 of 70 percent (%) coverage with complete immunization schedules and currently 89.6 % of its population (almost 10 million) has the full anti-COVID-19 vaccination schedule.
