By Frei Betto on January 21, 2021
All the evidence indicates that Brazil will be the last country in the world to immunize its population against Covid-19 and that, soon, due to Bolsonaro’s administration’s negligence, the number of deaths will surpass that of the US. Today, in the third week of January, the number of fatal victims is already over 212 thousand. Every day, more than one thousand people lose their lives to coronavirus in Brazil.
Bolsonaro suffers from thanatomania, a pathological inclination to derive satisfaction from other people’s deaths. Now, the lack of oxygen and hospital beds is further worsening the situation. One terrible paradox; oxygen is lacking in the states of Amazonas and Pará, both situated in the Amazon, the region regarded as the lungs of the planet. Many people are choking to death. And in a twist of fate Venezuela demonised by the Brazilian government, is supplying oxygen to Amazonas.
This necrophiliac scenario is the result of the inaction of the president and his genocidal administration. Brazil has a Ministry of Health but no minister. Since Bolsonaro’s inauguration, the two physicians who held that post have left it because they could not go along with the president’s indifference to the pandemic and his insistence on recommending preventive treatments without any scientific evidence of effectiveness, such as hydroxychloroquine. The current health minister, General Pazuello, is not a physician and, shortly before he took office he admitted that until that moment he had been unfamiliar with SUS – Sistema Único de Saúde [Brazil’s national health service), which provides free health services to the population and is considered exemplary. At the moment, however, SUS has its hands tied due to the lack of vaccines and not enough healthcare workers.
At the beginning of the pandemic, as it was spreading throughout the world, Bolsonaro declared that it was just a “little flu”. He refused to coordinate any efforts to mobilize Brazilians to avoid the dissemination of the disease. And, by his own example, he encouraged gatherings, criticized mask wearing (he even forbade mask wearers to enter the presidential palace) and he advised against preventive measures, such as social isolation, careful hand washing and using alcohol-based sanitizers. The Supreme Court had to intervene in order to allow state governors and city mayors to implement those measures.
As Bolsonaro enjoys the chilling stench of death, he has never been concerned with vaccinating the Brazilian people. He implied that Covid-19 kills mostly the poor (which would save money on social policies), persons with underlying medical conditions and the old (which would reduce SUS’ deficit and spending on social security). However, due to public pressure, the government has found itself forced to chase after the vaccines.
The vaccines available so far are produced in two countries, India and China, which for months have been vilified by the Bolsonaro family. The Brazilian foreign minister, Ernesto Araújo, a believer in the flat earth theory, has declared that China intentionally created the “comunavírus” [communist virus]. Aligned with the rich countries, Brazil refused to support India’s proposal to the WHO to break the patent of Covid-19 vaccines. In October 2020, Bolsonaro proclaimed: “I am telling you that we will not be buying vaccines from China”. In November, his son, the congressman Eduardo Bolsonaro, accused the Chinese government of using 5G technology for spying.
The few vaccines that reached Brazil, under 10 million doses for a population of 212 million, came from China and were imported by Instituto Butantan, a renowned public scientific institution in São Paulo state. The Fiocruz Foundation (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz), a public scientific institution from the state of Rio de Janeiro, has been attempting to buy the API (active pharmaceutical ingredient) from China without, so far, any confirmation of the possibility of delivery.
It is crucial for the world to know about the genocide being promoted by Bolsonaro’s government. Over 50 impeachment requests are gathering dust in the drawers of the Brazilian Congress. We are now living in a country without a government, without a national health policy, without laws to enforce any lockdown or prevent gatherings. We need everyone to save Brazil and Brazilians.