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The Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Carissa F. Etienne, today urged for vaccination programs to continue during the COVID-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIf we fall behind on routine immunizations, particularly for children, we risk outbreaks, thus overwhelming hospitals and clinics with preventable diseases in addition to COVID-19,\u201d said Dr. Etienne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
In a press briefing updating the situation, Dr Etienne said, \u201cuntil a vaccine for COVID19 is available, immunizations can and must be delivered by the health services alongside the response\u201d to the pandemic. If countries fail to do this, \u201cthe impact on our health systems would take months or even years to reverse,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A priority for countries, she said, is to \u201cvaccinate to protect health workers, the elderly and vulnerable populations from other respiratory infections, such as influenza and pneumococcus, which can lead to more hospitalizations and may be harder to diagnose in the context of COVID-19.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Maintaining capacity in vaccination is also key to ensuring the Region\u2019s \u201creadiness to deliver the vaccine for COVID 19\u201d when it is developed, Dr Etienne noted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This week, \u201cVaccination Week in the Americas is a time to promote and celebrate the life-saving power of vaccines. In 2020, we approach it with an acute sense of urgency,\u201d she said, adding, \u201cHistory has shown us that after wars or epidemics, if we allow large gaps in immunization coverage, vaccine preventable diseases like polio and measles can re-emerge.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n
While measles was eliminated in the Americas in 2016, \u201cAs coverage rates dropped we faced outbreaks in Venezuela, Brazil, and Colombia and in a few states in the US. As we speak, at least three countries are working to contain measles outbreaks in Latin America,\u201d said the PAHO Director. \u201cEfforts to control measles must continue, safely, amid the COVID-19 pandemic, or we risk erasing more than 20 years of progress,\u201d she warned. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
As of April 27, more than one million cases of COVID-19 have been reported in the Americas, and 60,211 people have died. \u201cWe are seeing a growing number of countries with ongoing community transmission: 3 in North America, 7 in South America, 1 in Central America, and 1 in the Caribbean,\u201d said Dr. Etienne. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cPAHO continues to work closely with member States to strengthen surveillance. Based on everything we know, it\u2019s vital that countries reinforce protective measures now and use all tools available to them. This includes proven public health interventions like social distancing, testing, isolating cases and contact tracing,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To help countries plan and make decisions on which vaccines to prioritize during the COVID-19 pandemic, PAHO has issued detailed guidance, which considers both potential risks and the burden of the pandemic on health systems. This guidance recommends that governments prioritize those vaccines for diseases that have an imminent risk of expanding in that area, such as measles, and those for other respiratory infections, such as flu and Pneumococcus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Regarding vaccination efforts in the Region, the director said \u201cour teams at PAHO are supporting every step of the process. We are training health workers and educating communities. We are working harder than ever to ensure that this pandemic doesn\u2019t disrupt vital immunization services.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Director of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Carissa F. Etienne, today urged for vaccination programs to continue during the COVID-19 pandemic. \u201cIf we fall behind on routine immunizations, particularly for children, we risk outbreaks, thus overwhelming hospitals and clinics with preventable diseases in addition to COVID-19,\u201d said Dr. Etienne. In a press briefing<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":10353,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[53],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10352","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-health"],"yoast_head":"\n