COVID-19 - PAHO/WHO Response, Report 61 (8 October 2021)

PAHO called for united response to COVID-19 in the Americas during a virtual Special Meeting of the Permanent Council of the Organization of American States (OAS) on 30 September 2021. PAHO’s Director Dr. Carissa F. Etienne emphasized that better coordination among countries will end the crisis more quickly for all. She stressed that vaccines must be made available to all. “There is no path to recovery for any of us while our neighbors remain vulnerable and while variants circulate and multiply". Dr. Etienne said the first and most urgent priority is expediting the delivery of COVAX-procured and donated vaccines across the Region to protect people from severe COVID-19 disease. PAHO’s second priority is to reduce the Region’s overdependence on imported health products. The new regional initiative to produce mRNA vaccines was highlighted. Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, WHO Director General, Dr. Anthony Fauci, Director of the United States National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, and Mr. Luis Almagro, OAS Secretary General, also spoke during the meeting, and all called for global collaboration and cooperation.

On 8 October 2021, PAHO launched a social media campaign to raise awareness of the COVID-19 mental health toll on frontline health workers. The campaign Mental Health Now – Tell Your Story, invites frontline health workers to share their stories and strategies to better manage and cope with pandemic-induced stress, anxiety, and depression. PAHO will compile and disseminate written and video stories from health workers in the Americas collected through Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter. Preliminary data from the COVID-19 HEalth caRe wOrkErS (HEROES) study, a collaboration between the University of Chile, Columbia University in the United States, and PAHO,indicate that between 5% and 15% of respondents in 11 countries in the Americas reported suicidal thoughts in the two weeks prior to being consulted for the survey. Between 15% and 22% reported symptoms compatible with depression. Study findings will be available in November 2021.