Brazil reaches milestone of 700,000 Covid deaths

Photo: Marcelo Camargo/ABr

Brazil has this week surpassed 700,000 Covid deaths, a milestone that comes just over three years after health officials first confirmed the country’s first Covid death on March 12, 2020. Brazil’s pandemic death toll is second only to that of the U.S., with 1.11 million.

Earlier this month, the Health Ministry decided to stop releasing daily data on new Covid cases and deaths, as only one-third of states continued to report new numbers each day — a testament to how Covid is no longer a front-of-mind issue as it was before vaccines were made widely available (but also to how poorly authorities keep track of data.

Today, 85 percent of Brazilians have had at least one dose of the Covid vaccine. However, only half of the population has completed the first vaccination cycle and received a booster shot. Vaccine coverage remains subpar among children under the age of 5.

Data analyzed by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation’s InfoGripe report, which studies respiratory epidemics in Brazil, shows that Covid mortality rates are three times higher among unvaccinated Brazilians. Currently, most coronavirus deaths occur among citizens over the age of 80 and immunosuppressed patients.

Brazilians’ willingness to vaccinate in 2021 and 2022 explains why the pace of the pandemic has slowed down so much in Brazil. It took Brazil just 34 days to go from 300,000 to 400,000 deaths in April 2021. Since then, each new milestone has come more slowly. The last 100,000 deaths occurred over the course of 536 days.

This success came despite former President Jair Bolsonaro’s anti-vax rhetoric. Mr. Bolsonaro has repeatedly spread disinformation around Covid vaccines. He said they were “experimental,” even after they were approved by health agencies such as Anvisa, Brazil’s federal healthcare regulator. The far-right leader also made false claims that vaccines were linked to the development of AIDS.

The Supreme Court, however, recently ruled that the former president will not face criminal charges for his alleged misconduct in the handling of the pandemic.