By TANYA SMITH-CARTWRIGHT

tsmith-cartwright@tribunemedia.net

THE Pan American Health Organization has “no concrete evidence” to recommend a third COVID-19 booster shot at this time for Caribbean countries.

PAHO’s Director Dr Carissa Etienne said their focus is to get as many people in the region fully vaccinated. Dr Etienne made these comments at PAHO’s weekly webinar.

She said once data is analysed, the World Health Organization will make the recommendation for or against the regional community taking a third COVID-19 shot.

“Each country makes its own decisions about the vaccination strategy it uses, considering the availability of vaccines, the transmission of COVID and other factors,” Dr Etienne said. “At PAHO our experts group along with WHO group of experts have advised that the most urgent priority is to expand vaccinations to our health workers and vulnerable people in our countries.

“Studies, clinical trials and data collection are ongoing to gather more evidence in many countries. I can assure you that once that data is analysed, WHO will put forward a recommendation. That will be done, I hope, in the near future. If you ask me, our most urgent priority is to ensure that all countries have access to vaccines and that no one is left behind in each country.

“In some countries many people have not yet received their second dose of the vaccine which is critical to ensuring protection. So with respect to the third dose, or booster, we have no concrete evidence to make a recommendation for a third dose.”

Over the last week, 1.4 million COVID-19 cases and nearly 20,000 deaths were reported in the region.

“As I have alluded to, although we have made some advances in vaccinations against COVID-19, they are not enough,” said Dr Etienne.

“So to date just over 21 percent of the people in Latin America and the Caribbean have completed their vaccination schedules. This means that we have millions of people who are not yet protected.

“COVID infections are accelerating across North America, where routine surveillance has confirmed that the Delta variant has become the dominant strain based on the variant of concern sequences reported over the past month. The US has seen cases increase by more than a third and Canada by more than half. In Mexico, more than two thirds of states have been deemed at high or critical risk as hospitals fill with COVID patients.

“COVID infections and deaths are rapidly rising across the Caribbean. Puerto Rico, Jamaica, and Cuba continue an increasing trend in both cases and deaths, while in Trinidad and Tobago, weekly deaths continue to rise. In Jamaica cases rose by 49 percent and deaths increased by 70 percent.”

Turning to Haiti, which recently experienced an earthquake followed by a tropical storm, Dr Etienne said support from PAHO for that country is already in progress.

“The situation in Haiti is especially acute following this weekend’s devastating earthquake,” Dr Etienne said. “PAHO and the international community have activated teams in Haiti to support all aspects of the health response and we are fully committed to help Haiti during this very challenging time.”

Mental health in the pandemic has always been an area of concern for PAHO. The PAHO director said the results of a report on the mental health of regional communities is “grim”.

“Throughout the pandemic, stress and fear have invaded our everyday lives, and an unprecedented number of people have lost their jobs and are struggling to support their families,” she said. “More than 16 months since the virus arrived in our region, we have started to generate data that show the true breadth of COVID’s impact on mental health in the Americas.

“The results are grim as demand for mental health and psychosocial support has never been higher, yet these services have never been more out of reach. Three-fourths of participating countries report partial or complete disruptions in mental health services during the pandemic.

“More than half of school-based mental health programmes and more than three-fourths of out-of-school programmes have been partially or entirely disrupted at a time when more than 15 percent of young people are experiencing depression. And, nearly 90 percent of participating countries report that mental health counselling and psychotherapy services have been disrupted, yet today up to 60 percent of people in our region are suffering from anxiety or depression.”

She said the mental health challenges were also being experienced by frontline health workers, who have been operating in crisis mode for more than a year.