Brazil’s vaccination drive halted due to insufficient doses

C: https://www.ft.com/

Vinicius Alexis da Cruz felt a wave of relief when he got his turn of the covid vaccination. The virus is ravaging Brazil. This 32-year-old has spent more than a year risking his life while working as an uber driver; due to diabetes and high blood pressure, Mr. Cruz was vulnerable enough. But he kept driving off his passengers across Sao Paulo.

He was really scared of getting sick. He is the father of one who lost his job as a sports commentator before the pandemic. Also, he kept taking the risk because he had to work.

He got his first dose of CorovaVac on the last of May. But when it came time for the second jab, he didn’t get it. Nobody had the vaccine for him as he went to five clinics near his house. But he couldn’t find any vaccine for him, which kept happening for days.

He scored the entire city for four days before he got his vaccination with the second shot. He is now fully vaccinated. But things have made one thing cholera that they are running short of vaccines.

Millions of people are struggling to get their vaccination shot for the covid. The vaccination campaign of Brazil is an area in trouble. Near 3.1 million Brazilians have not had their complete vaccination, though they are eligible for it.

Some of them have intentionally skipped their second dose. There is a lot of misinformation that one jab of vaccines is giving the full protection, which is making them skip vaccines. But the main hurdle is the supply of crunch of doses.

There is a drive for speeding up the vaccination with the first dose, while the second dose is ending up on the backburner. Coronavirus has caused more than 530000 deaths in Brazil. But only 40% of Brazilians have received the first dose of the vaccination.

Unlike some other countries, Brazil did not choose to hold back with the supplies of the second dose. Its vaccination campaign is mostly relying on the CoronaVac shots. But the shipment of the Chinese materials is lagging. The president of Brazil didn’t take any vaccines yet. Now his government is under investigation for the plans to purchase millions of Covexin shots at a wildly inflated price.

Credits: BBC

Henry Chan