PAHO says in advanced talks to buy more COVID vaccines

September 29, 2021

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) -The Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday it is in advanced talks with vaccine makers to buy additional COVID shots for its member states to complement bilateral deals, donations, and doses they are receiving via the COVAX mechanism.

PAHO has reached an agreement with Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac, and is expecting to sign new accords soon to buy vaccines with emergency use listing approval from other suppliers for 2021 and 2022, PAHO Director Carissa Etienne said.

The agreement with Sinovac is to buy 8.5 million vaccine doses for 2021 and some 80 million doses next year, said PAHO Assistant Director Jarbas Barbosa.

Etienne said that over a billion COVID-19 vaccine doses have been administered in the Americas and 35% of people in Latin America and the Caribbean have been fully vaccinated, but stressed that coverage has not been uniform.

Canada, Chile, Uruguay, and Puerto Rico have fully vaccinated over 70% of their populations, while 10 countries and territories in the region have yet to vaccinate 20% of their populations and Haiti has inoculated less than 1% of its people.

Last week the Americas saw nearly 1.5 million new infections and more than 26,000 COVID-19 related deaths, more than any other global region, according to PAHO figures.

(Reporting by Anthony Esposito and Adriana Barrera)

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