Brazil’s Vaccine Free-for-All
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro in a press briefing. Photo by Agência Brasil.
Brazil’s COVID-19 vaccine rollout lags behind other countries due to the poor governance of President Jair Bolsonaro’s administration and the political dispute between expected candidates in the 2022 presidential election. Brazil, the largest economy of Latin America, has a world-renowned immunization program considered the best among developing countries; however, the federal government has neglected the population since the beginning of the pandemic. President Bolsonaro, who caught the virus in July, has undermined the threat of the virus and the importance of wearing masks and social distancing, and often uses anti-vaccination rhetoric. Brazil’s robust immunization program and manufacturing capacity presented a hopeful future, but the continuous government neglect has rendered Brazilians’ post-pandemic expectations quite negative. The vaccination plan presented is far from comprehensive and the choice of a nationwide vaccine is enmeshed in a political dispute between president Jair Bolsonaro and the Governor of Sao Paulo, João Doria. The current political turmoil regarding the choice of a vaccine is further complicated by the unsettling rise of an anti-vaccination movement in Brazil.
Despite the high number of COVID-19 cases in Brazil, President Bolsonaro has continuously put thousands of lives at risk by pushing his anti-science response to the pandemic. The first cases of COVID-19 in Brazil were reported in February of 2020 and it took only three months for the country to lead Latin America as the epicenter of the pandemic. So far, over 200,000 Brazilians have died, and a new variant of the virus found in the Amazon State is expected to be more transmissible. Even amidst the current public health crisis, President Bolsonaro has continually pushed his anti-science agenda, undermined the seriousness of the pandemic by claiming the virus is “a little flu”, and made frequent public appearances without a face mask. In a span of just three months, Brazil changed health ministers three times. The government has been merciless toward any government official that has looked favorably upon science. The first minister, Luiz Mandetta, resigned over disagreements with the president over social isolation measures and the country’s coronavirus response. The second minister, Nelson Teich, resigned less than a month following Mandetta’s resignation, seemingly for similar reasons. The current minister, Eduardo Pazuello, despite being an army general without health credentials, has maintained his position by keeping a low profile and staying in line with Bolsonaro.
Only on December 13, seven months after Brazil became the epicenter of the pandemic, did the federal government present a plan—one that was far from comprehensive. The plan focuses on priority groups, such as health care workers, elderly people, and indigenous people, and expects to begin vaccination in February 2021; however, it does not address the immunization of the population at large, which is especially concerning given that Brazil has a population of 211 million people. Additionally, the plan omits important information such as the start date of vaccination and details of operations to achieve its purported goal of immunizing 70 percent of the population. The operational details are especially relevant given the difficult access to certain regions and the country’s continental dimensions. The government has not been clear about the distribution of medical supplies such as needles, gloves, and freezers, which are essential for the storage and application of the vaccine. Minister Pazuello claimed that Brazil had enough medical supplies for the month of January, but critics claim that the government has put little effort into purchasing more supplies.
What is more urgent is the question of which vaccine will be used for nationwide immunization. In late June, the federal government signed an agreement to produce the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine in Brazil. In September, the state of Sao Paulo signed an agreement between Sinovac, from China, and the Butantan Institute to cooperate in research and to produce the vaccine in Brazil. However, President Bolsonaro opposes the nationwide use of the Sinovac vaccine. Many consider his position to be politically motivated, since the Sinovac vaccine was researched and produced in Sao Paulo, under Governor Joao Doria, who is expected to be an opposing candidate to Bolsonaro in the 2022 presidential election. Bolsonaro claimed that Brazil would not buy “the Chinese vaccine of Doria,” hinting at the political disagreement with Governor Doria. Bolsonaro has recently mocked the vaccine’s effectiveness by asking a supporter "Is that 50% good?", despite scientific evidence confirming it is above the universal threshold to be considered effective.
President Bolsonaro's politically motivated criticism of the Sinovac vaccine undermines the credibility of the Butantan Institute—an essential and central component of the country's vaccine production. Bolsonaro’s questioning of the Sinovac vaccine is baseless and threatens the vaccination rollout by suggesting that the Astra-Zeneca-Oxford vaccine is preferable to the Sinovac vaccine tested in the Butantan Institute. Brazil is one of the countries that offers the most vaccines for free, making the National Program for Immunization (PNI) a world-renowned program. The Butantan Institute provides 65 percent of the vaccines used in the PNI and is the largest flu vaccine manufacturer in the Southern Hemisphere. The Institute also produces vaccines against rabies, tetanus, and hepatitis B, and is one of the main centers for the study and production of antivenoms, providing it to countries such as the UK, US, and Australia. The Institute’s production capability will be fundamental for the national production of the vaccine, and Bolsonaro’s dismissal of its credibility and importance is detrimental to the immunization efforts against COVID-19.
President Bolsonaro’s criticism of the effectiveness of the vaccine fuels anti-vaccination sentiment, which further threatens the immunization of the Brazilian population. Bolsonaro has widely employed anti-vaccination rhetoric disguised as promoting individual freedom. Similar to the United States, Brazil’s political polarization has affected people’s behavior regarding the pandemic. A study conducted by the University of Brasilia in late September 2020 showed that government sympathizers are less worried about the virus and less willing to be vaccinated compared to those that are more critical of the government. Additionally, Bolsonaro’s refusal to take any COVID-19 vaccine himself sets a bad standard for the rest of the country and reduces public trust in the vaccine.
President Bolsonaro's opposition to social isolation measures, his denial of the virus, and the underlying anti-vaccination tone in his speeches can cost many more Brazilian lives. The government's disastrous mishandling of the pandemic has revealed how poor governance and lack of leadership has a direct impact on lives. Brazil’s main newspapers’ editorials have accused Bolsonaro of being “homicidally negligent” and containing “lethal incompetence.” Bolsonaro’s chosen health minister, Pazuello, is under investigation for ignoring an alert for oxygen shortages in the city of Manaus, which led to a collapse in the city’s health system in early January. As the vaccine rollout is painfully slow, and anti-vaccination sentiments rise, Brazil’s post-pandemic future seems nowhere close.
And yet, the negligent and disastrous handling of the pandemic by Bolsonaro’s administration does not come as a surprise. In fact, Bolsonaro was elected on the very principles that fated his governance to failure: anti-science, denialist, and, most importantly, polarizing. A highly unqualified administration that based its rhetoric on false promises and fake news was doomed to handle a public health emergency from the start. An effective plan to fight the COVID-19 pandemic would require careful planning, working with, and not against, the scientific community, and international cooperation. Once again, President Bolsonaro has let down the Brazilian people— only this time, the implications are far more severe.
Julia Shimizu is a staff writer and sophomore at Barnard College studying Political Science and Economics. Julia is a Brazilian student interested in international politics, political economy, and identity politics.