The Pan American Health Organization is advising nations in Latin America and the Caribbean to prioritise healthcare workers in the distribution of the limited COVID-19 vaccine doses available in the region as at least 1.8 million persons in this group have contracted the deadly virus and 9,000 have died.

Addressing PAHO’s COVID-19 digital briefing on Wednesday (May 12), the organisation’s director, Dr Carissa Etienne, noted too that a rise in hospitalisations in the region, with 80 per cent of intensive care units filled with COVID-19 patients, has placed immense pressure on the healthcare workers.

With 8.5 million nurses in the region, Etienne said healthcare workers have been working overtime and juggling more responsibilities while managing “more patients now than at any other point in the pandemic”.

“Based on how COVID-19 is spreading, we estimate we will need 20,000 doctors and more than 30,000 nurses to manage the ICU needs of just half of the countries in Latin America and the Caribbean,” she said.

Etienne noted that PAHO has helped to deploy 26 medical teams across 23 member countries to provide specialised care where most needed.

In addition, some 400 emergency medical team have been dispatched and alternative medical care sites established, enabling member countries to expand their capacity with over 14,000 new hospital beds and 1,500 more intensive care beds.

In the meantime, she reported that data from 18 Latin American and Caribbean member countries indicates that 1.5 million healthcare workers in these territories were now fully vaccinated against the coronavirus.