On January 17, 54-year-old nurse Monica Calazans became the first person to receive a coronavirus vaccine in Brazil. The scene provided a jolt of hope, representing the first time the country could feasibly see a way out of the pandemic. One month later, however, Brazil’s vaccination efforts have been marred by shortages of jabs and government inaction facing the crisis.
In 2010, Brazil managed to vaccinate 100 million people against H1N1 — the virus which caused the 2009 swine flu pandemic — in a matter of just three months. This time around, as the country faces its worst health crisis ever, Brazil has managed to reach only 5.3 million citizens in the first month of vaccine rollout. This represents just 2.3 percent of the population. At the current pace, full immunization would only be reached by 2024.
On Tuesday, the cities of Salvador and Cuiabá stopped administering initial jabs to new patients to ensure that those already immunized may receive a second dose. Rio de Janeiro will do the same, and Curitiba could follow suit as of Friday. Florianópolis and Fortaleza are also running out of doses.
But while vaccines are lacking in multiple regions, only 45 percent of all jabs distributed to states and municipalities have actually reached patients.
The forced suspension of vaccination led the National Confederation of Municipalities to demand the...
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