Brazil let 70m COVID-19 shots get away and sealed its fate
By Julia Leite, Andrew Rosati and Simone Iglesias / Bloomberg
In August last year, when Brazil had emerged as among the worst-hit nations by the COVID-19 pandemic, Pfizer Inc offered the Brazilian Ministry of Health to set aside as many as 70 million doses of the vaccine it was developing. It got no answer. So it made the offer again. And then a third time.
The next month, the company’s former Brazil head, Carlos Murillo, told the Brazilian Congress that Pfizer’s global chief put the offer in writing to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro with copies to the vice president, chief of staff, ministers of health and economy, and ambassador to the US.
There were many warnings before 2020 that humanity’s most clear and present danger was a new pathogen and the global pandemic it could cause. AFP
THE Covid-19 pandemic is not over, but it is already clear that Lord Rees, Britain’s astronomer royal, has won his 2017 bet with the Harvard psychologist Steven Pinker that “bioterror or bioerror will lead to one million casualties in a single event within a six-month period starting no later than Dec 31,2020.”
Last year, according to Johns Hopkins University, the SARS-CoV-2 virus claimed the lives of 1.8 million people. The global death toll could exceed five by Aug 1 – or nine, if one accepts the drastic new upward revision by the Institute for Health Metrics and Evaluation. It could have been worse, of course. In March 2020, some epidemiologists argued that, without drastic social distancing and economic lockdowns, the ultimate death toll could be between 30 and 40 million. Yet the cost of such non-pharmaceutical intervent
Brazil will host the Copa América, the far-right president said, saying the governors of Rio de Janeiro, Mato Grosso do Sul and Goiás had agreed for their states to play hosts, plus the capital, Brasilia, and a fifth yet to be named.
Ramos tweeted: Confirmed: the Copa América will be held in Brazil.
Bolsonaro said matches would be held without fans.
Media reports had indicated the South American football confederation, CONMEBOL, was pushing to allow some fans, at least for the final.
There are still plenty of potential pitfalls ahead as organisers race to pull together the June 13-July 10 championships.