​​​​​What you should know

• 37 percent: The share of people in Latin America and the Caribbean that have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. Haiti and Nicaragua have yet to reach 10 percent.
• 600,000+: A new milestone in COVID-19-related deaths that Brazil surpassed last week, second only to the United States.
• 3 million: The number of Pfizer vaccines that Panama will purchase for its inoculation efforts next year. The $45 million order will bring the total number of Pfizer vaccines bought by Panama to 10 million.

Vaccination by the numbers

• Vaccinations per capita (vaccines administered per 100 people): Cuba (203) #2 worldwide, Uruguay (185) #3 worldwide, Chile (1) #4 worldwide, El Salvador (124) #42 worldwide, Panama (124) #43 worldwide, Ecuador (122) #48 worldwide, Argentina (120) #51 worldwide, Brazil (118) #55 worldwide, Costa Rica (117) #57 worldwide, Dominican Republic (113) #59 worldwide, Peru (91) #70 worldwide, Source: nytimes.com

• Percentage of population fully vaccinated: Uruguay (75) #10 worldwide, Chile (75) #11 worldwide, Ecuador (57) #42 worldwide, El Salvador (55) #49 worldwide, Cuba (55) #51 worldwide,   Panama (55) #52 worldwide, Argentina (53) #55 worldwide, Costa Rica (47) #63 worldwide, Brazil (47) #65 worldwide, Dominican Republic (46) #67 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

• Toledo: Pfizer announced it will fully vaccinate everyone in this southwestern Brazilian city over the age of twelve for a study of vaccine safety and effectiveness.
• 350 million: The number of COVID-19 vaccine doses Brazil is set to acquire by 2022.
• 18 percent: The share of Jamaica’s population with at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. Only 10 percent of the entire population has been fully immunized.
• Colombia: It will issue a regulatory authorization for Phase 3 trials of INOVIO’s COVID-19 vaccine candidate.
• Trinidad and Tobago: The latest country to receive a donation for COVID-19 testing supplies from China. The donation is worth approximately $77,000.
• PAHO: The health agency launched a social media campaign to raise awareness of the sustained burden the pandemic poses on the mental health of frontline health workers in the Americas.
• Uruguay: Government officials are evaluating whether to offer vaccinations to Argentine tourists when borders reopen in November.

Economies in focus

Economic Impact

• Dionisio Gutiérrez, president of Fundación Libertad y Desarrollo, stated that Latin America and the Caribbean will not return to the economic peaks it saw in 2013 until 2026.  
• A recent IDB report found that the rate of female participation in the workplace in Central America, Panama, and the Dominican Republic has fallen below the region’s average and has worsened due to COVID-19.  

Economic Recovery

• Chile’s economy leaped 19.1 percent year-on-year in August on the back of successful vaccination campaigns. The government has also planned to roll out booster shots. 
• The IMF’s World Economic Outlook predicted a 6.3 percent growth rate for Latin America and the Caribbean in 2021, a 0.5 percent upgrade from July projections.
• The IMF’s Concluding Statement for the 2021 Mission in Mexico noted that the country is rebounding from its deepest economic downturn in decades. 
• In November, the United States will lift restrictions at its land borders with Canada and Mexico for fully vaccinated foreign nationals, a sign of continued hemispheric economic reopening.

Multilateral analysis and support

• The World Bank Board of Directors approved a $500 million loan to strengthen Argentina’s pandemic response.  
• The African Circular Economy Alliance (ACEA) and Latin American and Caribbean Circular Economy Union (CECLAC) organized the first regional dialogue to explore how circular economy methods can support COVID-19 pandemic recovery. 

Social transformations: Moving toward a care economy

• The COVID-19 pandemic has highlighted the unfair and gendered organization of care within society. 
• At the 61st Regional Conference on Women in Latin America and the Caribbean, the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC) focused on highlighting the care economy. 
• Speaking on behalf of ECLAC’s Executive Secretary, Raúl García-Buchaca claimed that their collective efforts could contain the economic impact of the pandemic on women’s lives by revitalizing this economic sector. 
• Many countries are incorporating principles of a care economy. Argentina launched a Federal Map of Care in conjunction with ECLAC in 2021 to connect citizens with public and private care services.