Concern over graft, distribution and storage of vaccines is looming large and it will probably take longer than the coming year for immunity.
One afternoon a couple months ago, hijackers commandeered a truck just east of Mexico City and hauled off its cargo. It wasn’t cash or jewelry but doses of ordinary flu vaccine so scarce in Mexico this year that there’s a black market for it in what many worry is an omen for Covid-19 vaccination.
In Brazil, Latin America’s other behemoth, President Jair Bolsonaro, who belittles masks, is vowing not to get a Covid vaccine, causing health officials to worry that his loyal supporters might follow suit. In Bolivia, the government has approved ingesting chlorine dioxide -- bleach -- against the virus, widely considered useless and dangerous.
Arguably, no region in the world has been hit as hard by the virus as Latin America. At the best of times, its health systems are wobbly. This pandemic year, with Brazil registering the world’s second-highest Covid death toll and Mexico the highest case-fatality ratio, they’re unraveling, aggravating rising inequality, crime, economic decline and public mistrust. With 8% of the globe’s population and 30% of its Covid deaths, Latin America is facing the pandemic’s next phase -- mass vaccination -- with alarm.
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WNU Editor: Venezuela must be the least prepared country for a Covid-19 vaccine .... Faced with crumbling hospitals, many Covid-19 patients in Venezuela prefer their chances at home (CNN).
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