Brazilian prostitutes ask to be a priority staff and to receive the vaccine against the chronic coronavirus

In the midst of the pandemic, prostitutes from the Brazilian city of Belo Horizonte claims to be included among the priority groups to receive the coronavirus vaccine.

“We are on the front line, we are moving the economy, and we are taking risks, we have to get vaccinated“, He said Cida Vieira, president of the General Association of Mining Prostitutes (Aspromig), which includes some 2,000 women.

Members of the association organized a demonstration with banners in a central street of the city to make their demands visible. They say they are watching affected by hotel closures where they rent rooms to provide their services and that many of them take sanitary risks to attract customers to the street.

“We should be part of the priority group because we are in contact with different types of people and our lives are in danger.“, He said Lucimara Costa, sex worker.

For now, the federal government has defined as vaccination priority health workers, the elderly, indigenous people, people with morbidities and teachers. It is estimated that 77 million people are expected to be vaccinated in the first half of 2021. But sex workers are not included.

Until now Brazil adds more than 332 thousand deaths, a figure exceeded in absolute numbers only by United States.