Pan American Health Agency Mulls Making COVID-19 Vaccines Regionally to Cover Shortfall

WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd September, 2021) Plans to begin producing COVID-19 vaccines locally in Latin America and the Caribbean have advanced with more than 30 proposals for the regional introduction of needed technology, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said on Wednesday.

"The first initiative under the platform is to facilitate the transfer to the region of the mRNA vaccine technology used in highly effective COVID-19 vaccines.�PAHO has received 32 proposals from private and public companies that want to participate in the endeavor," PAHO said in a press release.

About three-fourths of people in Latin America and the Caribbean have not been fully immunized, PAHO Director Carissa Etienne said, as quoted in the release.

"More than a third of countries in our region have yet to vaccinate 20% of their populations. And in some places, coverage is much lower," Etienne added.

Fully vaccinating about 60 percent of each nation's population would require the delivery of at least 540 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, according to the release.