Head of immunisation of the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) Dr Daniel Salas has said 210 million people in the region have not taken any covid19 vaccine.

He was speaking at a virtual information session on Thursday morning titled Recommendations for Verifying Information about Covid19 Vaccines: A Guide for Journalists.

He said in total, 2.02 billion covid19 vaccines were administered in the region.

On those who still haven't taken any, he said, "It is important to understand that there are individuals that are susceptible to severe disease and to to death."

He said 40.3 per cent of the non-Latin Caribbean population have been fully vaccinated and boosted, 4.7 per cent got at least one dose, and 55 per cent had none.

"Vaccines save lives and we may have forgotten that," he said.

But he added that the effort by most countries in the region when it comes to vaccination has been "incredible."

Director of impact and new initiatives at Chequeado Olivia Sohr reminded those attending how essential journalism is when counteracting disinformation, especially when it comes to health.

Chequeado is a fact-checking organisation based in Argentina.

Sohr said a lot of "false, devious content" regularly circulates on social media. This content, she said, does not exist in a vacuum, but rather, its own ecosystem.

"Sometimes audiences don't trust authorities and this allows disinformation to spread more quickly."

Editor at Chequeado Florencia Ballarino said some of the causes of the spread of inaccurate information are money, politics and ignorance.

She said this had a role in jeopardising covid19 vaccine campaigns.

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