World Health Organisation data show Bolivia has provided more doses of COVID-19 vaccine to people aged under 30 than to people aged 60 or more.

By Peter Lloyd-Sherlock

16 November 2021

Recently, WHO started to publish data on COVID-19 vaccination for older people and total population. You can find the site here: https://app.powerbi.com/view?r=eyJrIjoiMWNjNzZkNjctZTNiNy00YmMzLTkxZjQtNmJiZDM2MTYxNzEwIiwidCI6ImY2MTBjMGI3LWJkMjQtNGIzOS04MTBiLTNkYzI4MGFmYjU5MCIsImMiOjh9

For some of the countries which are included on the WHO site, the data are alarming. Table 1 presents data for Bolivia on the percentages of people at different ages who had received either one, two or no doses of vaccine by the end of August 2021. It shows that 40 per cent of those aged 60 or more were completely unvaccinated. Strikingly, it shows that more doses had been provided to people aged 18 to 29 than people aged 60 or more.
 
Table 1. Covid-19 vaccination by age group, Bolivia, August 2021.

Reliable data on COVID-19 deaths by age group are not available for Bolivia (which itself is a concern), but the available information indicates that around 60 per cent of deaths have been aged 60 or more (https://eldeber.com.bo/santa-cruz/en-santa-cruz-el-58-de-fallecidos-por-covid-19-son-mayores-de-60-anos_240686).

Four days ago, it was reported that COVID-19 vaccines would now start to be provided to children aged 12 or over (https://www.eldiario.es/sociedad/ultima-hora-coronavirus-actualidad-politica-11-noviembre_6_8479020_1080993.html). It is unclear how many older people in Bolivia remain unvaccinated and so I call on the Ministry of Health to provide an urgent update.