In the heart of the remote Amazon, indigenous villagers receive a vaccine against the coronavirus

TABATINGA, Brazil (Reuters) – The Brazilian military sent medical personnel and 1,000 doses of a Chinese vaccine deep into the Amazon rainforest on Tuesday to begin immunizing indigenous peoples against the coronavirus.

Isabel Ticuna, 68, was the first to receive the vaccine in Umariaçu, a village of wooden houses on the banks of the Amazon River. The village is an isolated community near the border of Peru and Colombia.

“Immunization is so important to our entire Aboriginal community. This is what we expected, ”she told Reuters after receiving an injection of the CoronaVac vaccine, developed by Chinese company Sinovac Biotech.

Villagers cheered as she received her injection, a collective demonstration of relief for a community that has seen 37 residents die from COVID-19 and some 2,000 others infected.

“I was so worried, but D-Day has finally arrived after so many deaths here and in the world,” said Tarcis Marques Ticuna, the village doctor. “It is hope for us.”

Brazil’s more than 800,000 indigenous people have been hit hard by the pandemic that swept through their villages, many of whom were days away from the nearest medical post by riverboat.

The coronavirus has killed 926 indigenous people in Brazil and infected more than 46,000, according to the tribal umbrella organization APIB.

Anthropologists have warned that the communal lifestyle, with families sharing housing, precludes social distancing and makes them particularly vulnerable to contagion.

Brazil’s right-wing government has come under fire for being slow to respond to the pandemic that has so far killed more than 210,000 Brazilians.