Brazil vaccinating indigenous communities at a snail’s pace

Ever since Covid-19 arrived in Brazil, anthropologists and health specialists have warned of the risk of the virus reaching indigenous communities, alerting that the pandemic could decimate Brazil’s native population. Quickly, the Supreme Court ordered the federal government to carry out efficient measures to protect indigenous communities. However, a year later, the current situation is devastating.

As of this week, 1,021 indigenous people have died from Covid-19 in Brazil, out of a total of 51,179 cases.

At least 620 of these citizens lost their lives while in their protected ancestral lands — territories which are granted to indigenous communities by law, partly to avoid contact with outside groups that may bring harmful diseases to which some native groups have no immunity.

On the nationwide scale, the country is close to reaching 300,000 coronavirus deaths and the government is scrambling for vaccines. After months of disparaging immunizers and delaying procurement processes, the Bolsonaro government was only able to obtain guarantees from the Chinese-made CoronaVac vaccine, and has inoculated less than 6 percent of its population with a first dose.