Why Puerto Rico leads the United States in Covid vaccinations

San Juan (AFP) – Puerto Rico has an underfunded health care system, high levels of poverty, and its infrastructure remains devastated by a major hurricane that swept through the island in 2017.

So how is the US territory ahead of the rest of the country when it comes to COVID vaccination?

Experts attribute this surprising success to two major factors: a sense of solidarity forged from past clashes with disasters and a public health response unblemished by the political polarization observed on the continent.

As many as 74% of the island’s 3.2 million people are now fully vaccinated – well above the U.S. total of 58% – but also ahead of wealthy and liberal northeastern states such as Massachusetts and Vermont.

“Everyone should be vaccinated,” José de Jesus, a retired government worker, told AFP.

“You have to take care of yourself, you have to live life until you can,” added the 74-year-old, who luckily received a recall from Moderna last week.

Due to the high absorption, Puerto Rico is crushing its coronavirus curve, with daily cases currently at three per 100,000 people compared to 22 nationwide, and deaths at 0.1 per 100,000.

The situation is the complete opposite of what was expected at the start of the pandemic, when the odds seemed to be stacking against the Caribbean archipelago.

People wait to be vaccinated with the Moderna vaccine at a Puerto Rico National Guard vaccination center on Vieques Island in March 2021 Ricardo ARDUENGO AFP / File

Puerto Rico’s poverty rate is 43 percent, more than double that of Mississippi, the poorest US state.

His government faces an ongoing financial crisis that caused debt to skyrocket in 2017 and forced the imposition of a drastic austerity policy.

A hammer blow came in September 2017, when Hurricane Maria ravaged the island, killing nearly 3,000. Many victims died due to a lack of resources and a poor post-disaster response. The storm hit the island less than a month after Hurricane Irma hit, causing extensive power outages.

After that, protests in 2019 led to the resignation of a governor, Ricardo Rossello, and an earthquake destroyed nearly 8,000 homes in January 2020.

Lessons learned

“I couldn’t sleep, I kept thinking that the pandemic would be as badly managed as the responses to hurricanes Irma and Maria,” Monica Feliu Mojer, spokesperson for the organization told AFP. nonprofit Ciencia Puerto Rico which campaigns for science in Puerto Rico.

Instead, however, the memory of these disasters prompted “people to do their part,” creating a wave of criticism of unity in meeting the challenge.

A destroyed house is seen in Juana Matos, Puerto Rico in October 2017, two weeks after Hurricane Maria hit HECTOR RETAMAL AFP / File

The Puerto Rican government began vaccinating in December 2020, like the rest of the United States.

And in just a few weeks, professional groups, hospitals, universities, private companies and non-profit organizations joined the effort, collaborations essential to the future Covid vaccination campaign.

Paradoxically, the trauma of Hurricane Maria prepared Puerto Ricans to face the coronavirus.

The work of the NGO VOCES, which has administered more than 378,000 doses since January, is an example.

According to its founder, Lilliam Rodriguez, the organization began in 2013 to promote vaccinations against various diseases.

After the hurricane destroyed the stocks of vaccine doses, the mission of the NGO changed. Instead of just advocating for immunizations, he began to receive funds and vaccines, and his workers “went to the fields, to the neighborhoods, to administer them,” Rodriguez recalls.

“This prepared us to develop the skills of first responders in the field of public health and immunization. What we do now is not much different from what we did after Maria, ”she adds.

Stick to science

Feliu Mojer points out another key to the success of the vaccination campaign.

Unlike the rest of the United States, Puerto Rico did not “politicize” the response to the pandemic.

“In the United States, there is a relationship between people, their political party and their willingness to be vaccinated,” says the expert, something that does not exist in Puerto Rico.

On the island, “the main parties are not organized around conservative or progressive ideologies, but status preferences” on the future of the island’s political relations with the United States, she explains.

This unit allowed the government to take more stringent preventive measures during the summer, at the height of the global wave caused by the Delta variant.

The government has reimposed restrictions such as masking and ordered vaccinations or a negative weekly PCR test for public sector employees, as well as for workers and patrons of certain businesses like restaurants and gyms. Public reaction has been overwhelmingly favorable.

The success “has been a combination of science and solidarity”, summarizes Feliu Mojer.

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