Explaining Brazil #163: Getting vaccines to the heart of the Amazon

Getting vaccines to the neediest people is a logistical, political, and organizational challenge, even at the best of times. Now, imagine how difficult it must be during a deadly pandemic, which has already claimed well over half a million lives in Brazil. Late in May, a team of doctors, nurses, and frontline workers from U.S.-based NGO Health In Harmony, the Federal University of Pará’s medical school, and Instituto Socioambiental embarked on a three-week expedition taking two boats filled with ice and 1,400 doses of the AstraZeneca Covid-19 vaccine to remote riverside communities in the Amazon. 

This week, we spoke with one of the people who helped take these vaccines into the heart of the Amazon rainforest.

Listen and subscribe to our podcast from your mobile device:

Spotify, Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Deezer

Guest:

• Marcelo Salazar is an engineer and Brazil’s program coordinator for Health In Harmony, a U.S.-based nonprofit dedicated to addressing the climate crisis through accessible healthcare.

Background reading:

• Brazil’s indigenous populations are among the priority groups to receive Covid-19 vaccinations, but the difficulty in getting supplies to remote groups has been a major obstacle for public health teams. Some communities received their jabs on canoes.
• While they are among Brazil’s priority vaccination groups, indigenous people are receiving immunization at a much slower pace, writes reporter Renato Alves. Several indigenous communities in Brazil are at risk of complete extinction due to the coronavirus pandemic.
• A recent study encountered a direct link between increased deforestation, loss of biodiversity, and a number of mosquito-borne diseases. Researchers also charted the spread of Covid-19 in the Amazon.
• Congress is leading the charge to lift environmental regulations in the Amazon rainforest, continuing the work started by President Bolsonaro and his cabinet. One bill proposes looser controls over a number of economic ventures, leaving some projects completely exempt from environmental licensing.
• The expansion of cattle farming in Brazil is often linked to deforestation, but a recent study shows that environmentally responsible practices could be a way to increase the sector further.

Do you have a suggestion for our next Explaining Brazil podcast? Drop us a line at podcast@brazilian.report

Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter and Facebook.

• #amazon
• #deforestation
• #vaccine