RIO DE JANEIRO – Brazil, a country that is proud of its role as regional leader in science, technology and medicine, is finding itself falling behind its neighbors in the near global pandemic vaccine for pandemic vaccination. 200,000 of her people were killed.
The largest country in Latin America, long called for its domestic immunization development programs, appears to be at least three or four weeks away from launching any formal vaccination campaign against COVID. -19 float. In contrast, Argentina, Chile, Mexico, Costa Rica and other countries in the region have started offering insights to their population.
The Brazilian government has not approved a single vaccine and has gone down in efforts to get even syringes and needles for a vaccination effort that, as of the new year, had not yet released a definite date.
The lightning rod in Brazil’s vaccination debate is President Jair Bolsonaro, who has questioned all the vaccines being developed even while his government is negotiating to get them. He has stated that he does not intend to be shot himself and once joked that side effects could turn men into crocodiles or bearded women.
Such a conversation has left Brazil’s image abroad “deeply damaged,” Margareth Dalcolmo, a professor of respiratory medicine at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, known as Fiocruz, told the Associated Press.
“No one says Bolsonaro really believes this, but he despises the vaccine,” said Walter Cintra, a professor of health management at the Getulio Vargas Foundation university in Sao Paulo. “When the government behaves like this, it loses credibility. And those are million dollar contracts. ”
One of the earliest vaccines on the horizon appears to be one developed by the Chinese company Sinovac, which has contracted with Brazil’s largest state government, Sao Paulo, for its release and to take out.
Sao Paulo Gov. João Doria plans to start distributing shots on Jan. 25 if federal health authorities approve the vaccine. Doria is a vocal critic and the most likely opponent in the 2022 presidential election, and her news stressed the Bolsonaro administration to come up with its own federal vaccination plan.
The president first took over the Chinese vaccine, saying its origins do not inspire trust, but other states soon showed interest in getting some.
Another competitor for its early nationwide release appears to be the vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University, which may be available in early February once regulators approval, according to Brazil’s state laboratory, Fiocruz, which issues it in Brazil.
Fiocruz is one of the largest public laboratories in Brazil for vaccine production, including measles, polio and yellow fever. Relying on advanced technology and the ability to produce Fiocruz at a low price, Brazil is the world’s largest manufacturer of yellow fever vaccines, dispensing millions of doses to dozens of countries on worldwide, according to Fiocruz information.
Fiocruz said it expects 100 million doses of COVID-19 to be produced at home by the end of July. Two doses are required.
The government also expects an additional 42 million doses from the global vaccine partnership called COVAX, with no set date, and has signed a memorandum with Janssen, a Johnson & Johnson subsidiary, for 38 million doses of the single vaccine -photography when it comes to availability.
The government has been struggling to reach an agreement for the first globally approved vaccine, the Pfizer-BioNTech bullet. Pfizer complained in late December about the regulatory hurdles in Brazil, while Bolsonaro pointed out that pharmaceutical companies were not showing more willingness to sell to a country of about 210 million people.
Tensions appeared to be easing in a meeting between regulators and Pfizer on Dec. 30, when officials said they would simplify protocols and Pfizer said they would consider applying for an emergency use permit. The Brazilian government and Pfizer earlier signed a memorandum of understanding for 70 million doses, according to information from the health ministry.
For Cintra, the professor of health management, the confusion over the COVID-19 vaccine license is a symbol of how this administration handled the pandemic, when Bolsonaro has denied the efforts of local officials to enforce social distance rules and described the virus as a “Small Flu”.
“It’s not about Anvisa (the regulator), or over-regulation. It’s about the federal government ruining the fight against the pandemic, or completely destroying Brazil’s health system, “he said.
Cintra noted that a public bid to procure more than 330 million syringes and needles for the government’s COVID-19 vaccination campaign came as a result this week in bids for just 8 million units within the relevant price range – less than 3% of what was required.
The Ministry of Health said in a statement that they would keep the offer open.
“There is a real risk of getting vaccinated but not enough needles and syringes,” he warned Carlos Eduardo Lula, president of the council of state health secretaries.
The head of the Brazilian bar association, Felipe Santa Cruz, told the Valor newspaper that further delays in the vaccination program could force the association to draft an impeachment request against Bolsonaro.
For physics teacher Francisco Ferreira, 55, there is hope for a vaccine anytime soon.
“Brazil is experiencing a combination of bad faith and incompetence on the vaccine issue,” Ferreira said as he walked through Sao Paulo International Airport. Bad administration around the world provides the sights, but this is not the case. ”
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Savarese reported from Sao Paulo. AP videoreporter Tatiana Pollastri contributed to this report