Devastated by Covid, Latin America is not ready for the vaccine

One afternoon a few months ago, criminals seized a truck east of Mexico and they took out their load. He was not carrying cash or jewelry, but rather doses of the common influenza vaccine, which is so rare in Mexico this year that there is a black market, which many fear is an omen for the Covid-19 vaccine.

In Brazil, the other giant in Latin America, its president Jair Bolsonaro, who underestimates the importance of masks, promises that you will not receive the Covid vaccine, leading health officials to fear that their staunch supporters may follow suit. In Bolivia, the the government has approved the ingestion of chlorine dioxide (bleach) against the virus, widely regarded as unnecessary and dangerous.

Perhaps no region of the world has been so affected by the virus as Latin America. At best, your health systems are unstable. In this pandemic year, when Brazil records second highest number of Covid deaths in the world Yes Mexico, the highest death rate, fall apart, aggravating the growing inequality, crime, economic decline and public mistrust. With 8% of the world’s population and 30% of deaths from covid, Latin America faces the next phase of the pandemic with alarm: mass vaccination.

“To the normal logistical problems of a vaccine which will be difficult to distribute in so-called developed countries, Latin America add the lack of transparency, lack of governance and presence of corruptionSaid Sergio Litewka, director of global bioethics at the University of Miami. “The question remains whether the people who could not handle the pandemic are able to handle the logistics of the vaccine.”

There are issues that will affect all countries. Pfizer Inc. just announced that Supply Chain Problems Will Halve This Month’s Distribution compared to the original plans. Interpol has launched a global alert indicating that organized crime networks vaccines against Covid-19, both physically and online, around the world.

But Latin America, with the exception of a few countries, seems more vulnerable than other regions. The virus has delayed decades of progress in democracy and equality, and almost tripled the number of people facing food insecurity. Given the region’s dire situation over the past nine months and the ultra-cold equipment needed to store and transport two of the vaccines tested, many of its health officials are hopeful that it will be left behind. risk to be. affected by more waves of the virus.

Of the three preferred vaccines, those of Pfizer and Moderna have been shown to be 95% effective, but their costs and temperature requirements could be prohibitive. With this you have the possibility to AstraZeneca Plc. The vaccine developed in collaboration with the Oxford University represents more than 40% of supplies go to low and middle income countries, on the basis of agreements monitored by the London-based research company Airfinity Ltd.

The region’s health ministries say they are preparing with equipment, distribution points and plans to mobilize the military.. Some have agreements with large pharmaceutical companies, most are part of Covax, an effort by the World Health Organization to help less wealthy countries get vaccines quickly and cheaply.

But many of those who know the subject are concerned.

Jorge Martín Rodríguez, professor of public health policy at the Universidad Javeriana de Bogotá, says that probably Colombia will not be protected until 2022 or 2023, something that many don’t seem to realize. In a telephone interview, Rodríguez stressed that this had not been mentioned much and that more awareness was needed, as the risk will only decrease when the collective immunity, ideally by vaccination. He estimates that 45% of the population will gain immunity from the vaccine or the disease next year, which means the restrictions will have to continue.

Mexico and Argentina signed a deal in August with Astra via the billionaire’s foundation Carlos slim finance theup to the production of 250 million doses. Brazil achieves phase 3 trials for Pfizer, AstraZeneca, Sinovac and Janssen.

In theory, Brazil should vaccinate its 210 million people better than it did with the disease. According to a dozen health experts consulted, its five-decade-old vaccination program, which manages 35,000 outposts, is in good shape. Even in this difficult year, the government reached 90% of the population with the annual influenza vaccine.

The vice president, Hamilton Mouraosaid Monday that the country should vaccinate 150 million people by the end of 2021. The government, which relies mainly on the AstraZeneca vaccine, is now also in talks to buy 70 million doses to Pfizer.

But the recent setbacks are worrying. Last month, it was reported that there were nearly 7 million unused high-quality covid tests at an airport in Sao Paulo, with most of them set to expire in January.

“I didn’t know they were there,” said Carlos Lula, health secretary of the northern state of Maranhao and president of Conass, the country’s association of state secretaries. “We had begged the Department of Health to provide us with more evidence.”

As United States, Brazil it is a federal system and the central government may or may not play an important role in health care. The governors implemented measures as they saw fit and asked the Supreme Court of the country to ensure that Bolsonaro does not overrule them in its attempt to get people back to work. As a result, the virus behaved differently in the country’s 27 states, a first wave that morphed into a second in what some have described as a “tsunami” of cases.

the talks between health ministry and states remain stuck and there are disagreements over whether to use the Chinese vaccine, CoronaVac, which Sao Paulo state says will begin use on Jan.25. Brazil is expected to need more than one vaccine to cover the whole country. “We will have to be creative: administering vaccines at home, in cars, churches, stadiums,” said Juárez Cunha, head of the Brazilian Immunization Society. “We have done it before and we will have to do it again.”

In the neighbor Argentina, Adolfo rubinstein, former health minister, said that does not expect a mass vaccination in the country before the second half of 2021, in part due to the need for low temperature freezers.

There aren’t as many freezers available, especially in the more remote rural areashe explained. He also mentioned that winter, with the increase in cases, will begin in the southern hemisphere when the vaccine distribution begins, adding that it is very likely that from April a new outbreak of case.

AstraZeneca is one of the pharmaceutical laboratories supplying Covax, the initiative of WHO, which will speed up production of Astra or Novavax vaccines for low- and middle-income countries, with a maximum price of $ 3 per dose. Sanofi and its partner GlaxoSmithKline have also joined. As vaccines become available, Covax will distribute them at the same rate until all countries have enough doses to cover 20% of their population.

In MexicoThe government says there will be more flu shots in the coming weeks, attributing the slow rollout to one of the biggest producers, Sanofi Pasteur Inc. Sanofi says its supply has been affected by the pandemic. “It was a failure. No vaccinesSaid Francisco Moreno, head of internal medicine at ABC Mexico City Medical Center. “What is happening in Mexico is another disaster because the Covid epidemic has not been brought under control and because it has not been possible to prepare the population against the flu.”

There are a few bright spots in the area.

Uruguay to the lowest infection and death rates in South America thanks to one of the best healthcare systems and the widespread adoption of voluntary social distancing policies. The country of 3.5 million people closed its borders early and plans to keep them closed during the Christmas tourist season. Your president, Luis Lacalle Pou, He said the government hopes to have a vaccine available in April.

And in Chile, who has had difficult months due to Covid, Josefina Bascuñán, head of education, research and strategic alliances at the Hospital del Trabajador de Santiago, said that the flu vaccination campaign worked well this year and believes that the government can implement a robust vaccination strategy against the coronavirus.

However, the most typical case is Peru, which has been severely affected by Covid despite strict containment efforts, and is now seeking to vaccination with concern.

Victor Zamora, a recent Minister of Health, said that Congress, which recently removed a president, has yet to discuss legislation to speed up approval of new vaccines. He added that 70,000 nurses and a large number of teams must be mobilized.

In his opinion, the fragmented, bureaucratic, slow and politicized state cannot be expected to guarantee modern and executive logistics, and he stressed that he prefers the private sector to do so even if it costs more. . For masks and dresses alone, there is a huge loss in the public sector due to theft, corruption and mismanagement, he added.