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. 2023 Feb 1;8(1):2.
doi: 10.1186/s41256-023-00286-2.

Achieving herd immunity in South America

Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno 3rd  1   2   3 , Deborah Oluwaseun Shomuyiwa  4 , Creuza Rachel Vicente  5   6 , María José González Méndez  7 , Shohra Qaderi  8 , Jaifred Christian Lopez  9 , Yidnekachew Girma Mogessie  10   11 , Jason Alacapa  10 , Lila Chamlagai  12 , Remy Ndayizeye  13 , Pelin Kinay  14
Affiliations

Achieving herd immunity in South America

Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno 3rd et al. Glob Health Res Policy. .

Abstract

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.

Keywords: COVID-19; Herd immunity; Pandemic; Population health; South America; Vaccination.

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Conflict of interest statement

The author declares no competing interests. Don Eliseo Lucero-Prisno III is the Deputy Editor in Chief of Global Health Research and Policy and was not involved in the review of the decision related to the manuscript.

Figures

Fig. 1
Fig. 1
a Share of population vaccinated against COVID-19. Source: Edouard Mathieu, Hannah Ritchie, Lucas Rodés-Guirao, Cameron Appel, Charlie Giattino, Joe Hasell, Bobbie Macdonald, Saloni Dattani, Diana Beltekian, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser (2020)—"Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus' [Online Resource]. b COVID-19 vaccine doses administered per 100 people. Source: Edouard Mathieu, Hannah Ritchie, Lucas Rodés-Guirao, Cameron Appel, Charlie Giattino, Joe Hasell, Bobbie Macdonald, Saloni Dattani, Diana Beltekian, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser (2020)—"Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus' [Online Resource]. c COVID-19 vaccine boosters administered per 100 people. Source: Edouard Mathieu, Hannah Ritchie, Lucas Rodés-Guirao, Cameron Appel, Charlie Giattino, Joe Hasell, Bobbie Macdonald, Saloni Dattani, Diana Beltekian, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser (2020)—"Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus' [Online Resource]. d Share of population who completed the initial COVID-19 vaccination protocol in South American countries. Source: Edouard Mathieu, Hannah Ritchie, Lucas Rodés-Guirao, Cameron Appel, Charlie Giattino, Joe Hasell, Bobbie Macdonald, Saloni Dattani, Diana Beltekian, Esteban Ortiz-Ospina and Max Roser (2020)—"Coronavirus Pandemic (COVID-19)". Published online at OurWorldInData.org. Retrieved from: 'https://ourworldindata.org/coronavirus' [Online Resource]
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