Folks stroll by way of Previous San Juan on March 21, 2021 in San Juan, Puerto Rico.
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A high World Well being Group official pleaded with individuals within the Caribbean on Wednesday to get vaccinated, saying the islands had restricted ICU beds.
Dr. Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan American Well being Group, the WHO’s regional department in Latin America, mentioned the abundance of vaccine misinformation within the island area is making individuals hesitant to get the pictures.
“I wish to make a particular enchantment to my fellow Caribbean individuals please, we now have to be extraordinarily cautious,” Etienne mentioned. “Now we have restricted mattress capability and restricted ICU capability in our small islands … our well being programs will turn into overwhelmed in a short time.”
The well being programs there may shortly turn into overburdened if extra individuals do not get vaccinated, she mentioned, noting that misinformation has unfold throughout the islands.
She mentioned the choice to not get vaccinated is “foolhardy,” particularly when hospital capability is so restricted.
“We’re enjoying with our lives. So my enchantment to you is, rise up, get up from that slumber, get up from that dream, as a result of we all know that the vaccines are secure,” Etienne mentioned.
“I do not know the sources of the knowledge that’s triggering this degree of vaccine hesitancy. I can let you know that they aren’t scientifically confirmed, and I wish to enchantment to you to hearken to the sources the place you’ve got truthful, scientifically primarily based info and proof,” Etienne mentioned.
A relative of a Covid-19 affected person queues to recharge oxygen tanks for his or her family members on the regional hospital in Iquitos, the biggest metropolis within the Peruvian Amazon, Peru.
CESAR VON BANCELS | AFP | Getty Photographs
There have been some uncommon uncomfortable side effects from the vaccines that normally happen inside a number of weeks of immunization. Etienne mentioned the uncomfortable side effects are being intently monitored by scientists “nationally, regionally and globally,” and that actions are taken instantly if considerations come up. Each remedy you are taking has uncomfortable side effects, “and you do not query them there,” Etienne mentioned.
“So please, please, please take your vaccines and please put on your masks correctly and social distance,” Etienne mentioned. “I do know we Caribbean individuals prefer to be shut and we prefer to congregate,” she mentioned.
Etienne mentioned regardless of the cultural inclination to congregate, individuals ought to preserve social distance, wash their fingers and observe “respiratory etiquette.”