PAHO asks countries to prioritize elderly, frontline workers and vulnerable for COVID immunization

Dr Jarbas Barbosa da Silva Jr, the Assistant Director of the Pan American Health Organisation (PAHO), has asked the countries to prioritize inoculating the elderly, frontline workers and vulnerable ones with the COVID-19 jabs.

He asserted that “PAHO urges countries to prioritize the elderly, frontline workers, and people with pre-existing conditions, not only to protect them but also to prevent health systems from becoming overburdened with severe cases”.

With this, he also noted that the decision to prioritize the general public for the COVID-19 vaccination remains in the hands of the governments of individual countries, noting that “these should be made on the basis of evidence, equity and the commitment to protect our most vulnerable”.

Dr Barbosa further emphasized that once the individuals who are at greater risk of getting COVID-19 are protected, the next step must be to inoculate the high percentage of the adult population.

Following the statement, he added that “Once those at greatest risk are protected, the next step is to immunize an only afterwards should countries consider vaccinating younger groups”.

“This approach lays the best foundation for countries to reduce the circulation of the virus and eventually get their economies and societies back on track,” PAHO’s Assistant Director stated.

Apart from this, he further highlighted that the data of some nations reveals the COVID-19 vaccine doses reaches its population before a significant percentage of vulnerable groups are fully vaccinated.

Till November 8, 2021, a total of 742,750,155 individuals across the world have received their first jabs of the COVID-19 vaccines, which is around 53.8 per cent of the world’s population. On the other hand, there are a total of 345,485,882 individuals (which is around 25 per cent of the total population) who have received their required amount of doses and are now fully vaccinated against the deadliest outbreak.