A year later, Brazilian people endure the worst pandemic scenario

Posted previously on Youth Politician on Mar 2021.

After one year of the pandemic, most countries are reporting a low number of deaths from covid- and their economies are starting to turn around. Brazil lives the opposite scenario: a collapse in public health and vaccination at a slow pace.

On March 10th, 2,286 lives were lost to Covid-19 according to the Brazilian Ministry of Health. Compared to the last two months period of 2020, the death toll increased by 71% in the first two months of 2021; as a result, Brazil has reached the worst moment of the pandemic. 

In Europe, the contamination curves fell considerably between the first and the second wave, on the other hand, Brazil had a short period of decline in contagion during the second half of last year.

Due to end-of-year agglomerations, all states were affected simultaneously, also the appearance of new variants, considered to be aggressive by scientists, strongly caused an increase in the number of deaths, which is related to the decrease in the quantity of basic supplies in the public health sector. Between January and March, Brazil had to face:

• People dying asphyxiated from lack of hospital oxygen;

• People dying in the ICU line at crowded hospitals;

• Ambulances being used as hospital beds;

• Hospitals closing doors to stop receiving more patients;

The bed numbers decrease was impacted by the lack of logistical planning by the Ministry of Health and the state departments. Data from the National Council of Health Secretaries shows that the total number of beds financed by the country with federal resources drops from 12,003 in December to 7,717 in January and 6,830 in February. The forecast is for 3,187 new beds to arrive by the end of the month. 

The Brazilian Government drew up an immunization plan against Covid-19, but did not implement it broadly and, quickly enough, due to the lack of vaccines. The campaign exploded on January 17th, reaching 4.5% of the Brazilian population, given that the vaccination is targeted at priority groups: elderly people over 60, health workers, people with comorbidities and indigenous tribes. 

4.5% of the Brazilian population has been vaccinated with a single dose up until March 13th, 2021, the distribution  takes place at a slow pace. 

Brazil has been late to buy and guarantee two doses for each of its 210 million inhabitants and at the beginning only relied on the vaccines Astrazeneca, located in Oxford, and Corona Vac, in partnership with China. In February, the campaign was suspended in big capitals, such as Rio de Janeiro, because doses ran out quickly due to problems with the import and distribution of supplies.

Congressmen and governors pressured the government to acquire the Russian vaccine Sputnik V and the German Pfizer. President Bolsonaro, who had declined due to contract clauses in 2020, has indicated that contracts are going to be closed this week with Pfizer and Janssen. However, as a result of this laboured process, businessmen and governors have taken upon themselves to purchase vaccines for the public health system.

While cases are dropping worldwide, in Brazil the curve is still rising. As a comparison, in Israel, where the pandemic begins to lose strength, the number of infected people among the elderly, reduced by 41% in the first weeks of vaccination and a reduction of 31% in hospitalizations and 24% in severe cases.

The decrease in percentages is a reflection of vaccination combined with lockdowns. Although they are smaller countries than Brazil, the policy to combat the pandemic adopted by them illustrates how the combination of restrictive measures and mass immunization impacts the non-proliferation of the disease. 

Chen, Benjamin; Garcia, David; Caldas, Amy; Andrade, Beatriz; Nicholas, Kayla ; Dhesi, Kiman; Costa, Luciana; Huemer, Sarah; Shekhawat, Vaidaansh; Veloz, Andre. Youth Economist Compilation: For the youth by the youths (pp. 32-33). Kindle Edition.