Americas are facing pandemic of the unvaccinated, PAHO says

BOGOTA - The Americas are facing a pandemic of the unvaccinated, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday, as it warned that countries with low inoculation rates are seeing increases in COVID-19 and repeated a call for vaccine donations.

"We face a pandemic of the unvaccinated, and the only way to stop it is to expand vaccination," PAHO director Carissa Etienne said at a weekly briefing. "Vaccines are critical, even if no vaccine is 100% effective." Just 15 percent of people in Latin America and the Caribbean have been fully vaccinated, she said, adding that figure obscures that some countries like Honduras and Haiti have yet to reach even 1% inoculation.