How Brazil is now a major player in achieving COVID-19 herd immunity?

Dealing with COVID-19 has been a struggle for all regions across the globe. Although some countries have dealt with the pandemic better than others, now that vaccines have been developed, it seems the world will finally achieve a long-desired herd immunity to the coronavirus. Some nations, who have had difficulties in dealing with pandemic-induced deaths, are now finding some stability, as with every day that goes by, a larger population is vaccinated. Among these countries is Brazil, who has fully vaccinated 28.4% of the population, and although there is a long way to go, everything seems to be on the right track. One of the key companies in developing a vaccine, is the American company, Pfizer, who has been a major component in the vaccination of numerous countries.
 
On Thursday, August 26th, Pfizer announced a partnership with Brazilian pharmaceutical company, Eurofarma. Said partnership will focus on distributing doses to Latin America, as some countries, like Guyana have barely over 20% of the population fully vaccinated, as some other nearby countries are in a state of despair, like Nicaragua, who has a mere 3.1% of the population fully vaccinated. Brazil itself is what could be considered a hotspot for the pandemic, as on Monday, August 23rd, Brazil broke a record for daily deaths, reaching 1,300, in just 24 hours. Production for Pfizer vaccines go through the German company BioNTech, who’s new factory will produce 100 million vaccines at the start of next year. In the statement, Pfizer chief, Albert Boula said, “Everyone -- regardless of financial condition, race, religion or geography -- deserves access to lifesaving COVID-19 vaccines, our new collaboration with Eurofarma expands our global supply chain network to another region -- helping us continue to provide fair and equitable access to our COVID-19 vaccine.”
 
Protests in Brazil have spread, as the population complains about the government’s actions in dealing with the
pandemic. Ironically, these protests have resulted in large, unsanitized, and hence unprotected gatherings.

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Streets of São Paulo, flooded with protesters, discontent with the vaccination issues Brazil has faced.







Eurofarma will receive the doses and prepare them into proper vaccinations to then be distributed among the people. Eurofarma president Maurizio Billi calls this partnership with one of the biggest international corporations a “milestone”, while also saying, “At such a difficult time as this one, being able to share this news fills us with pride and hope,”. Billi and those working with him are taking a big step towards sparing the lives of many, and hopefully returning to a long-awaited sense of normality.

Written by: Matias Gonçalves
Edited by: Anna Kissajikian

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