SAO PAULO (AP) – Brazilian marketing executive Eduardo Menga is very cautious about his health. During the pandemic, he consulted a number of doctors to make sure he was in good shape and uprooted his family from Rio de Janeiro to a quiet rural town where he works remotely. His wife Bianca Rinaldi, an actress, has not worked since March.
Menga and Rinaldi are among a minority of Brazilians who will pay for a vaccine against COVID-19 if a private clinic association can close a deal to bring 5 million shots to the most unequal country in Latin America. President Jair Bolsonaro, under fire for the pandemic’s handling by his government, has vowed not to interfere.
“When I go to a restaurant and pay for my own food, I don’t take food from anyone else,” Menga, 68, said from her home in Jundiai, Sao Paulo state. “I don’t think getting a vaccine from a private clinic is taken by another person waiting in the public system. It could be an alternative line and those who have the opportunity should take it.
Amid the stumbling block of government vaccines, many moneyed Brazilians want to find a quick path to vaccination, provoking reactions from some public health experts and igniting debate on social media, editorial pages and social gatherings.
Everyone around the world has been concerned that the privileged may play the system to get vaccinated before others. When the connected ones have been taken forward, in countries like Turkey, Morocco and Spain, they have faced criticism, research or forced resignations.
Brazil has also received reports of line jumpers, but the nation stands out because the maneuvers are not just done in the shadows. Some are exposed, with the thriving coordination efforts the government supports, according to Roberto DaMatta, professor emeritus of anthropology at the University of Notre Dame.
“The pandemic makes Brazil’s inequality more obvious, because the virus doesn’t choose social class, but the cure can be,” said DaMatta, who wrote the book “Do You Know Who You’re Talking to?” a portrait of Brazilian privilege. He was inspired by episodes of the pandemic, including a judge who rejected a police officer’s order to put on a mask, and then called the state security chief to protest and ripped off his fine. 100 reais ($ 20).
“Brazil’s rich and normalized slavery for centuries. Now, they accept that more poor and blacks are dying of COVID and put little pressure on a government that has sabotaged the deployment. Taking the vaccine in this scenario may depend on the organization, so the affluent are organized, ”DaMatta told The Associated Press.
Business leaders and some authorities advocate attempts to secure a vaccine as a boost to Brazil’s economic reboot. And, anyway, they argue, why shouldn’t heels buy vaccines if the government’s efforts fall short? To date, Brazil has 13.9 million shots available for a population of 210 million people and has given the first of two shots to only 1% of citizens since vaccinations began on January 18. .
Health experts, for their part, believe that such efforts as ethically administered vaccines are scarce globally and at-risk groups have a more immediate need to prevent death; nearly 230,000 Brazilians have already died due to COVID-19, the second highest count in the world.
And while people over 65, like Menga, are at the top of the list, Brazil’s slow deployment, which can take up to 16 months, means it can be a long time before you get shot and , even more time for his wife, who is 46 years old. .
The debate over the unfair distribution of vaccines in Brazil began to erupt after, according to reports, Supreme Court employees maneuvered to set aside some 7,000 COVID-19 vaccines for themselves and their families; the government lab that will make and distribute AstraZeneca features declined, saying it cannot reserve features. Sao Paulo state prosecutors also lobbied for him to be included in priority groups, alongside health professionals.
Following these efforts, private health clinics in Brazil intervened to try to circumvent the government’s hiring plans. Executives from the Brazilian Private Clinics Association negotiated directly with Indian pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech for its COVAXIN intake. The association of nearly 30,000 private clinics is registering potential clients on a waiting list.
Brazil has no agreement with Bharat and its health regulator has not yet approved COVAXIN, but as a sign of what the future may hold if the agreement is upheld, the Rio Grande do Sul State Judges Association asked its members last month if they were interested in buying shots from the association of clinicians.
Gonzalo Vecina, who headed the Brazilian health agency between 1999 and 2003, says these private sector efforts pose a major problem, not only for ethical and legal reasons, but also for public health.
“The private network must not follow the priority protocol of the Ministry of Health. So if that goes ahead, we’ll have a line for people who have $ 200, where you can get a chance next week and another that won’t move for months, ”Vecina said.
“What everyone needs to understand is that the pandemic doesn’t end if it doesn’t end for everyone.”
Most of the planet relies on public health care networks to administer vaccines and few countries with a large population use private channels to distribute them. A notable exception is the United States, where Americans can get shot at pharmacies, clinics, and other private institutions. Hospitals in at least eight U.S. states have been accused of favoring them board members, trustees, relatives and donors who should have waited their turn.
On January 26, Bolsonaro said he had signed a letter to bolster an offer from a group of Brazilian executives to score 33 million doses of AstraZeneca’s shot, with half used as they wished and half donated to the system. public health of the country. .
Brazilian media reported that at least 11 companies were part of the group, including state oil company Petrobras, steelmaker Gerdau and phone company Oi, which declined to comment.
“This would help the economy a lot, and also those who want to get vaccinated,” Bolsonaro said of the companies ’effort. Economy Minister Paulo Guedes called the effort “obviously very good.”
By contrast, a council of business leaders from neighboring Colombia hit a barrier when it applied for permission to buy COVID-19 shots. Colombia’s health minister said the possibility would only be raised in the second phase of vaccination, after all health professionals and people over 60 have been shot.
Despite Bolsonaro’s support, AstraZeneca declined the efforts of Brazilian executives, saying in a statement that it would not supply Brazil’s private sector, at least for now. The Sao Paulo Industry Federation issued a statement two days later denying that such negotiations had ever been pursued.
A former governor of Brazil’s central bank, Armínio Fraga, said he opposes the measures of the richest Brazilians and fears vaccine prices could rise if companies are allowed to bid for them.
“We are living in a time of global scarcity,” Fraga, a partner at investment firm Gavea Investimentos, said in an online interview with Valor newspaper. “We need some coordination so that the priority groups are respected.” ____
AP reporters Suzan Fraser contributed from Ankara, Elena Becatoros of Athens, Aritz Parra of Madrid, Mosa’ab Elshamy of Rabat and Russ Bynum of Savannah, Georgia.