Achieving herd immunity in South America

Global Health Research and Policy

Perspective

Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno¹  Jaifred Christian Lopez²  Creuza Rachel Vicente³  Deborah Oluwaseun Shomuyiwa⁴  Remy Ndayizeye⁵  María José González Méndez⁶  Jason Alacapa⁷  Yidnekachew Girma Mogessie⁸  Shohra Qaderi⁹  Pelin Kinay^1,10  Lila Chamlagai^1,11 

[1] Department of Global Health and Development, London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, London, UK;Faculty of Management and Development Studies, University of the Philippines Open University, Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines;Faculty of Public Health, Mahidol University, Bangkok, Thailand;Department of Population Health Sciences, School of Medicine, Duke University, Durham, NC, USA;Department of Social Medicine, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória, Brazil;Postgraduate Program in Infectious Diseases, Federal University of Espírito Santo, Vitória, Brazil;Faculty of Pharmacy, University of Lagos, Lagos, Nigeria;George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA;Global Health Focus South America, Santiago, Chile;Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA;Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, Baltimore, MD, USA;Johns Hopkins Carey Business School, Baltimore, MD, USA;Maternal Fetal Care Center, Boston Children’s Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA, USA;School of Climate Change and Adaptation, University of Prince Edward Island, Charlottetown, Canada;School of Public Health, Brown University, Providence, RI, USA;

关键词: Herd immunity;    COVID-19;    Vaccination;    Population health;    South America;    Pandemic;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s41256-023-00286-2

 received in 2022-08-11, accepted in 2023-01-06,  发布年份 2023

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

South America, once an epicenter of COVID-19, has stayed on the road of continued management of the pandemic. The region initially struggled to cope with the pandemic as it experienced spiraling numbers of infections and overwhelmed public health systems. South America has risen in its pandemic response to be the region with the highest global vaccination rate. The region posed a strong vaccination drive, with over 76% of its population fully vaccinated with the initial protocol. South America leveraged its deeply rooted vaccination culture and public health confidence among its population. Herd immunity is an integral concept in population infectious disease management. Attaining herd immunity is presently not feasible with available vaccines, but the high vaccination rate in the region depicts the acceptance of vaccination as a strategy for population protection. The availability of effective transmission-blocking vaccines, the continuous implementation of strategies that will enable the undisrupted supply of the vaccines, equity in access to the vaccines, improved vaccine acceptance, and trust in the vaccination and public health systems will help shepherd the region towards herd immunity. Local vaccine production backed with investment in infrastructure and international collaboration for research and knowledge development will also drive population safety.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s) 2023

【 图 表 】

Fig. 2