​​​​​What you should know

• 65.5: The share of Latin America and the Caribbean’s population that is fully vaccinated.
• PAHO: New COVID-19 cases in the Americas dropped by 32 percent in the last week, while deaths fell by 10 percent.
• 6 million: The global COVID-19 death toll as the pandemic enters its third year—Brazil has recorded 652,400 confirmed deaths, the second highest in the world.

Vaccination by the numbers

Percentage of population with booster shot: Chile (77) #1 worldwide, Uruguay (56) #17 worldwide, Cuba (53) #20 worldwide, Argentina (38) #41 worldwide, Brazil (32) #48 worldwide, Peru (32) #49 worldwide, Panama (28) #57 worldwide, Costa Rica (26) #61 worldwide, Ecuador (24) #67 worldwide, El Salvador (22) #68 worldwide, Dominican Republic (21) #69 worldwide, Colombia (16) #71 worldwide. Source: nytimes.com

Percentage of population fully vaccinated: Chile (91) #5 worldwide, Cuba (87) #7 worldwide, Argentina (81) #17 worldwide, Uruguay (79) #24 worldwide, Ecuador (78) #27 worldwide, Costa Rica (76) #31 worldwide, Peru (75) #37 worldwide, Brazil (74) #41 worldwide, Colombia (66) #59 worldwide, El Salvador (66) #61 worldwide. Source: nytimes.com

Vaccinations per capita (vaccines administered per 100 people): Cuba (309) #1 worldwide, Chile (259) #2 worldwide, Uruguay (220) #14 worldwide, Argentina (209) #25 worldwide, Peru (192) #38 worldwide, Brazil (187) #40 worldwide, Costa Rica (185) #42 worldwide, Ecuador (184) #44 worldwide, Panama (165) #58 worldwide, El Salvador (159) #62 worldwide, Colombia (152) #65 worldwide. Source: nytimes.com

Geopolitics of vaccine donations: US vs. China

• The United States outpaces China in its donations of COVID-19 vaccines to Latin America and the Caribbean, with Colombia and Mexico topping the list. The region has received roughly 52 percent of all US COVID-19 vaccine donations. To learn more, visit our COVID-19 vaccine tracker: Latin America and the Caribbean.

Health + Innovation

• Caribbean: Ten countries have yet to reach the World Health Organization’s (WHO) goal of 40 percent vaccination coverage in 2021.
• Trinidad and Tobago: The latest country to announce the relaxation of COVID-19 restrictions.
• Mexico: Government officials reported 1,684 new confirmed cases, the lowest single-day count in 2022 so far, bringing the total number of confirmed cases to 5,566,669.
• 10,000: The number of COVID-19 vaccine doses Taiwan donated to Saint Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines to help Caribbean allies combat the pandemic.
• Brazil: Following determinations from its scientific committee, Rio de Janeiro is relaxing the use of masks as the COVID-19 pandemic wanes.

Economies in focus

Economic Impact

• The International Labor Association established that the pandemic-induced labor market crisis in the region disproportionately impacted women, with 4.2 million of the 23.6 million jobs lost for female workers still to be recovered.
• While the rise in global commodity prices due to the Russian invasion of Ukraine could benefit exporters across Latin America, it will also likely raise inflation rates.
• The International Monetary Fund (IMF) warned that the Peru’s economic outlook remains uncertain despite a 13.3 percent GDP growth in 2021.

Economic Recovery

• Brazil came out of recession with a GDP growth rate of 0.5 percent during Q4, setting GDP growth for 2021 at 4.6 percent.
• Major Latin American currencies stood up to a weaker dollar as the war in Ukraine pushed oil and commodity prices higher.

Social transformations: Emergence of care policies in Latin America and the Caribbean

• The pandemic provided a political window to discuss the implementation of state-sponsored care policies, which before the pandemic, had been noticeably absent in the region. Prior to 2020, Uruguay was the only country in the region to possess an institutionalized care system.
• Over the last two years, Argentina created a federal care system, Bogota instituted a district care system, Costa Rica developed a National Child Care and Development Network, and the Mexican Chamber of Deputies approved a national care system.