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PANAMA CITY, Sept 23 (Reuters) - Panama is weeks away from
achieving herd immunity against COVID-19 after vaccinating more
than half its population of 4.2 million people, President
Laurentino Cortizo said on Thursday at the United Nations
General Assembly.
Panama acted with "foresight" and managed to secure enough
vaccines despite global supply challenges, Cortizo said at the
assembly in New York.
"Thanks to this, we are only weeks away from reaching herd
immunity," Cortizo said, adding that "global immunity" should be
a shared goal.
Herd immunity occurs when a large enough portion of the
population is immune to a pathogen, either by vaccination or
prior infection, stopping spread of the virus. Health experts
have said about 70% to 80% of the population must be immunized
to reach some level of herd immunity, but that figure can vary.
Panama has so far received 7.2 million doses of vaccines
from Pfizer Inc and AstraZeneca Plc. It has
administered 5.3 million of those shots, according to Ministry
of Health data.
Panama has reported 465,147 COVID-19 cases and 7,183 related
deaths.
Some health experts have cast doubt on the goal of reaching
herd immunity considering the ability of the coronavirus to
mutate quickly into new, highly transmissible variants.
Health Minister Luis Sucre has attributed Panama's control
on the pandemic to a sustained fall in daily infections that
enabled a gradual economic reopening.
(Reporting by Eli Moreno, writing by Cassandra Garrison;
Editing by Bill Berkrot)
