Jair Bolsonaro
Photographer: Andre Borges / Bloomberg
Photographer: Andre Borges / Bloomberg
Brazil has accelerated plans to vaccinate the population against the coronavirus after an early start by the state of Sao Paulo put pressure on President Jair Bolsonaro to move faster to stem an initial loss of popularity.
The government on Monday distributed 6 million doses of a shot manufactured by China Sinovac Biotech Ltd in partnership with Sao Paulo’s Butantan Institute to all 27 of its states, according to the official statement, gave the green light for vaccination to start immediately. Less than 24 hours earlier, Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said the nationwide campaign would begin on Wednesday.
The pressure on the Brazilian president and his health minister increased dramatically when Joao Doria, governor of Sao Paulo, arranged a ceremony on Sunday to administer the first dose of the so-called CoronaVac shot – minutes after the country’s health regulator approved its use in emergencies. The picture of a black nurse being vaccinated has been broadcast in the Brazilian media and becomes a political victory for Doria, one of Bolsonaro’s main political opponents.
A healthcare worker donates a dose of the Sinovac Biotech Ltd. coronavirus vaccine to the University of Sao Paulo Hospital on Sunday
“Bolsonaro is losing some support from his supporters,” said Marcio Coimbra, a political scientist who heads the Interlegis brainstorming session in Brasilia. “First aid was the most important car of its popularity, while the pandemic and vaccines were a major problem.”
Bolsonaro’s popularity fell by 6 percentage points to 32% in January, one month after its cash distribution program to informal workers expired, according to a XP / Ipespe poll of 1,000 people between 11 and 14 January. Half of the respondents wanted the government. to come up with a similar emergency program in a few more months. This is the first time since May that its popularity has taken a hit, the poll said.
Read more: Oxygen shortage calls for evening clock in the capital of the Amazon in Brazil
The president, who has repeatedly questioned the safety of the shots fired in a pandemic that killed more than 200,000 Brazilians, is under increasing political tension as national inoculation plans again target key regional and Covid-19 cases across the country. turn. To complicate matters is the dispatch of the AstraZeneca Plc booster – the federal government’s main effort to sustain a mass campaign – has been delayed amid difficult negotiations with India, where part of the shots are being manufactured.
Without the main map available, the Ministry of Health has decided to continue with the CoronaVac – a vaccine sponsored by Doria and repeatedly criticized by Bolsonaro “because of its origin.” The collapse of the health care system in the Amazon capital, where oxygen was depleted to treat patients, contributed to a new sense of urgency. In response to the crisis, trucks loaded with oxygen donated by the government of Nicolas Maduro in Venezuela crossed the Brazilian border on Monday, according to the G1 website.
Several state governors, demanding a stronger response from the Ministry of Health, celebrated the start of the vaccination campaign on social media by posting photos and videos of the transport of vaccines on the Brazilian air force jets. In Rio de Janeiro, Mayor Eduardo Paes organized a ceremony at the foot of the statue of Christ the Savior to mark the date.
Yet not all states received the shots immediately, with Pazuello attributing logical challenges.
As the CoronaVac spreads nationwide, Doria achieves a political victory that strengthens its position as a possible contender in the 2022 presidential election, Coimbra said, warning that other names are likely to appear along the way.
– With help from Isadora Sanches and Marisa Wanzeller
(Updates detailing Manaus in the seventh paragraph, delays in the second to last paragraph. An earlier version of this story was corrected to say that Bolsonaro’s popularity had dropped by 6 percentage points, not base points.)