At a time when countries are racing to prepare to vaccinate citizens against the Corona virus, Brazil, with its world-famous vaccination program and its strong ability to manufacture drugs, should have enjoyed a great advantage, but the political infighting, uncontrolled planning and an emerging anti-vaccine movement left the South American giant, who suffered from The second largest number of deaths due to the epidemic, without a clear vaccination program.
Argentine newspaper “Clarin” said that because of these battles, Brazilians have no idea when they will be able to recover from a virus that has caused the public health system to kneel and crush the economy.
“They are playing with life,” said Dennis Jarrett, a Brazilian-American epidemiologist who researches public health at the Sabine Vaccine Institute, which is working to expand access to vaccines. “It is almost a crime.”
Experts held on to hope that Brazil’s immunization capabilities would allow it to deal with the end of the epidemic better than it had in the beginning.
In February, after the first case of coronavirus was discovered in the country, Brazil became the epicenter of the global health crisis. President Jair Bolsonaro denied the scientific evidence, describing the virus as a “miserable response” that did not justify the closure of the largest economy in the region, and rebuked conservatives who imposed quarantine measures and closed businesses.
With vaccination efforts underway in the United Kingdom and the United States, giving their respective residents the opportunity to start imagining a life after the pandemic, Brazilian government officials are once again unprepared and preoccupied with strong disagreements over vaccination policies.
In early December, the Ministry of Health submitted a vaccination plan in response to an order from the Federal Supreme Court. The plan specified the order in which the vulnerable groups would be vaccinated, but it did not clarify the schedule or give a clear estimate of the number of available doses, and the ministry had said earlier that it intended to start the vaccination campaign in March.
Days after the announcement, the ministry was still struggling to order from already overburdened vaccine providers, and government officials also faced questions about the insufficient number of syringes and other materials available in Brazil to initiate the ambitious vaccination campaign needed to cover a country of 210 million people, where more Of 180 thousand people due to the virus.
Except that the agency responsible for health supervision in Brazil Anvisa It has not yet approved any vaccine against COVID-19 for widespread use.
“People will start to panic if Brazil continues to fall behind without a clear and objective plan or strategy,” said Rodrigo Maya, speaker of the Brazilian House of Representatives, on December 7, and warned that Congress would take over if the executive continued its clumsy strategy.
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