The Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) reported that despite the fact that several countries continue to make progress in their respective vaccination plans against COVID-19, it will not be possible to achieve the long-awaited herd immunity this year, as the speed in the administration of the dose will not be sufficient, so it is likely that this will not be achieved until 2023.

It was during the presentation of the study "Building a better future: actions to strengthen the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development" where it was also stated that the region accumulates about 22.7 million infections and more than 718 thousand deaths caused by COVID-19, reducing the average person's life expectancy by half a year.

It is known as herd immunity or collective immunity when a population becomes immune to a specific disease. This is due to the existence of a vaccine or due to the great exposure that the inhabitants have had to the virus. According to the increase in immunized people, the probability of infection decreases.

Alicia Barcena, Executive Secretary of ECLAC, stated that based on the current pace of distribution and application of vaccines against SARS Cov-2, immunization will be achieved in a maximum of 4 countries between the end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022, 7 more countries may reach the goal in the course of 2022, but finally the majority will be until 2023.

The official mentioned that the risk factors in Latin America and the Caribbean are age, gender (since the disease has been diagnosed as affecting more men than women), poverty, overcrowding, poor care in health systems and inequality, stressing that those countries with adequate primary health care services and relevant systems will be the ones to recover more quickly from the pandemic.

In view of the tragic scenario that the coronavirus still represents in several countries of the region, ECLAC authorities expressed the importance that should be given to the COVID-19 Global Access Fund for Vaccines (Covax), directed by the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), since it is necessary to support the weakest nations in their fight against the virus.

Finally, it was discussed to launch an awareness campaign aimed at those people who still have doubts about the anti-COVID vaccine and its safety, in addition to carrying out a negotiation with countries that have greater access to the vaccine against the coronavirus, in order to exchange information and thus improve the vaccination processes.

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