kevon.felmine@guardian.co.tt
Sharing misinformation about COVID-19 is just as serious as the disease itself, says Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO) Assistant Director Dr Jarbas Barbosa.
At PAHO’s weekly briefing on COVID-19 in the Americas, Barbosa said that not only has COVID-19 impacted the health of millions of people, but it has also left millions dead and changed societies.
He said misinformation shared on social media is a problem, especially as governments with varying political stances are all reporting the significant impact of COVID-19.
Barbosa said over one billion people worldwide already got vaccines and that health authorities have large amounts of information on their use.
“There are many people who are at this point trying to doubt the existence of the pandemic and the efficacy and safety of vaccines. It is not just idle chatter. It can lead people to die, so we need to take this very seriously. And I repeat, only read information only from sources that you can prove, sources where you can verify the accuracy of the data presented. Take your information where you can verify the data presented,” Barbosa said.
He recommended that people go to PAHO’s website or those recognised health pages to access information about the pandemic, such as cases, deaths and technical guidelines. Additionally, people can get information from newspapers where they can check the validity.
Over the last week, the Americas recorded over 1.6 million new cases and just under 22,000 related deaths.
In the Caribbean, St Lucia and Puerto Rico are reporting high rates of new infections, and Jamaica saw its highest-ever COVID-19 death rate as its hospitals reach capacity.
New cases are surging in North America, where hospitalization rates among young people and adults below 50 years are higher today than at any time in the pandemic.
Among Central American countries, Costa Rica and Belize are experiencing accelerating infection rates. It is a different picture in South America where infections are mostly declining with a few exceptions like Venezuela, where cases in plateauing.
In Suriname, transmissions have increased for four consecutive weeks.
PAHO Director Dr Carissa Etienne said the Americas remain disproportionately affected by the pandemic. The region is home to four of the top 10 countries worldwide, with the highest cumulative cases. It also reported almost a third of all COVID-19 deaths.
Despite these figures, Etienne said 75 per cent of people in the Caribbean and Latin America are not fully immunized against COVID-19. For many countries, vaccine supplies are months away. Every country in the region has begun administering vaccines.
However, Etienne said only those countries that secured agreements with manufacturers have steady campaigns and increasing coverage.
For instance, more than 60 per cent of people are fully vaccinated in Canada, Chile and Uruguay and over half of the United States of America’s population.
“Unfortunately, countries with high coverage are the exception in our region. Delays in production, export plans and limited vaccine supplies have meant that many countries are still awaiting the doses they expected months ago. More than a third of the countries in our region are yet to vaccinate 20 per cent of their populations,” Etienne said.
PAHO wants to deliver an additional 540 million doses to ensure every country in the Americas can cover at least 60 per cent of their population. In addition, PAHO’s Revolving Fund secured 80 million syringes earlier this year to assist in vaccinations.
Etienne said the Fund already pooled demands from countries in the Caribbean and Latin America to get vaccines in the coming month and address common gaps.
