The WHO calls for unequal access to vaccines for Latin American and Caribbean countries.

BUENOS AIRES While some affluent countries ease coronavirus restrictions, or make plans that in the near future, Latin America and the Caribbean continue to be hit by rising infections and deaths, highlighting large disparities in vaccine access worldwide , officials from the World Health Organization warned on Wednesday.

When we see some sort of virus outbreak in countries in the northern hemisphere, for most countries in the region, the end remains a distant future, said Carissa Etienne, director of the Pan-American Health Organization, which is part of the WHO

Despite this disturbing picture, only one in 10 people in Latin America and the Caribbean have been fully vaccinated against Covid-19, she added, calling it an unacceptable situation.

Economic inequality, the large informal economy and the difficulty of implementing public health measures in Latin America and the Caribbean have all been major obstacles to contain the coronavirus there, said Ciro Ugarte, PAHO’s director of health emergencies.

New cases continue to rise in many countries in Central America, including Panama and Guatemala; Caribbean, including Cuba and the Dominican Republic; and South America, including Colombia and Brazil.

Brazil recently surpassed 500,000 official deaths Covid-19, the second highest number in the world after the United States. About 1 in every 400 Brazilians has died from the virus, but many experts believe the actual death toll could be higher. Home to just over 2.7 percent of the world’s population, Brazil accounts for approximately 13 percent of the registered victims, and the situation there is not easing.

Now in addition to a worsening situation, countries in the region need to prepare for conditions that could lead to a further increase in cases, including hurricane season and flu season further south, both of which come at a time when measures of social distance have been relaxed

“Coronavirus variants have been discovered across the region, with 14 countries in the United States detecting cases of the Delta variant, creating more urgency to vaccinate as many people as possible,” said Drs. Etienne. She added that inoculation could be encouraged in part through donations from developed countries.

Although there is not yet good data on how all vaccines stand against Delta, some widely used shots, including those made by Pfizer-BioNTech and AstraZeneca, appear to retain most of their effectiveness against the Delta variant. suggests research.

Eighty-five percent of gunshots that have gone to guns worldwide have been administered in high- and middle-income countries, according to the Our World in Data at Oxford University project. Only 0.3 percent of doses are administered in low-income countries.

The less affluent countries are relying on a vaccine-sharing deal called Covax, which aims to provide two billion doses by the end of the year.

On Wednesday, Jen Psaki, White House press secretary, said the United States was sending 2.5 million doses of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to Colombia, part of President Bidens’s promise to send doses to vaccine-desperate countries.

“Access to Covid-19 vaccines should not be a privilege for some, but a right that we all share,” said Dr. Etienne.

For now, the Delta variant remains largely associated with travelers to Latin America and the Caribbean, and community broadcasting has been limited, said Jairo Mndez, a PAHO regional viral disease adviser.

The link between travelers and the rise of infections from variants prompted PAHO to call on governments with a high rate of variants to restrict travel from one country to another, or even close their borders altogether.

Now may not be the ideal time for travel, especially in places with active outbreaks or where hospital capacity may be limited, said Dr. Etienne.

Dan Levin contributed to the reporting.