The Caribbean island [of Puerto Rico] — in recent years pummeled by deadly hurricanes, rocked by earthquakes, beset by political unrest and saddled by debt — has quietly managed to outpace even New England states with the highest vaccination rates in the country.
“All those emergencies and collective trauma primed Puerto Rico and the leadership, the scientific community, the healthcare community,” said Daniel Colón Ramos, a Yale medical school professor who presides over the coronavirus coalition advising the government. “There was a sense of urgency. A lot of people that I have worked with, their attitude was like: Not on my watch. Not again.”
Puerto Rico has fully vaccinated just over 73% of its 3.3 million residents, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. That’s more than 2.3 million people.
The island has the highest rate of total vaccine doses administered, with 154,563 per 100,000 people. It had administered 4.9 million doses as of [October 22], according to the CDC.
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“It represents a lot of saved lives,” Colón Ramos said of the island’s vaccination success. “It’s really about the fact there are hundreds of people — if not thousands — right now walking around somewhere in Puerto Rico and they wouldn’t be there if it wasn’t for these efforts.”
