The current 260,000 killed by Covid-19 in Brazil are the result of an evil combination of actions and inactions.
The first of these, right in the beginning of 2020, more precisely in January, was not paying attention to the warnings of the ample capacity for contamination of the corona virus and, even so, we held the Carnival soon afterwards, with the entry of thousands of foreigners in Brazil.
After this fact, the complete confusion that was installed in the country, uncoordinated by the Federal Government, which in the figure of President Jair Bolsonaro, treated the disease as a simple flu.
While state and city governors tried to curb contamination by the virus, Mr. Jair Bolsonaro ushered in the era of negativism, and the insistence on imitating his American idol, Donald Trump, and the ill-fated early treatment with Chloroquine.
Since the arrival of Covid-19, the President has treated the pandemic, in his own words, as: “oversized”; “gripezinha” (weak flu); “That everybody will all die someday”; “and so” ? (on growing deaths); ” no need to panic ” etc.
Bolsonaro, in October 2020, stated that the government would not buy CoronaVac, even if the vaccine was approved by Anvisa (Brazilian health surveillance agency), even though this vaccine was the only one in advanced development in Brazil.
Only in January 2021, after pressure, did the federal government authorize the purchase of CoronaVac.
Bolsonaro did not admit the purchase of CoronaVac for two reasons: this vaccine was developed by the Chinese laboratory SinoVac; and, the other, the vaccine is the result of the efforts of the governor of the State of São Paulo, João Doria, today one of Bolsonaro’s greatest enemies.
Another important aspect is the fact that Bolsonaro and team, on several occasions, have offended China (like Trump), which cost a delay in shipping supplies for vaccine manufacturing, among other problems.
Bolsonaro, since the pandemic began, provoked agglomerations, challenged institutions personally and through his followers, also questioned the effectiveness of wearing safety masks and lockdown.
Brazil, nowadays, does not have a single direction in managing the pandemic. On the one hand, Bolsonaro does not show any empathy with national mourning, and has efforts directed only to block any attempt to undergo an impeachment, or to have his family investigated by the courts.
As there are no vaccines, today only a little less than 4% of the population is vaccinated, and there is no respect from a large part of the population in meeting the requirements of local authorities. Evidently, because the authority was weakened by President Bolsonaro himself.
Since isolation measures are boycotted and not uniform, they do not work. With this fact, Bolsonaro and followers say that isolation is an ineffective measure and that it harms the economy.
Today, Brazil is a laboratory for mutations of the virus that can render existing vaccines harmless at the moment. There are almost 2,000 deaths per day, the number of which is growing and the virus is constantly changing.
Brazil is living in an era of horror that is far from the end and calls for help.
Cássio Faeddo. Attorney. Master in Law. MBA/International Relations – FGV/Fundação Getúlio Vargas – São Paulo – Brazil.
