TABATINGA, Brazil (Reuters) – The Brazilian military on Tuesday flew medical staff and 1,000 doses of Chinese vaccine deep into the Amazon rainforest to begin inoculating indigenous people against the coronavirus.
Isabel Ticuna, 68, was the first to receive the vaccine in Umariaçu, a village of wooden houses on the banks of the Amazon River. The village is a remote community near the borders of Peru and Colombia.
“Vaccination is so important to our entire indigenous community. That’s what we were expecting, “she told Reuters after receiving an injection of the CoronaVac shot, developed by Sinovac Biotech in China.
The villagers applauded when he was given the injection, a collective show of relief for a community that saw 37 residents killed by COVID-19 and another 2,000 infected.
“I was so worried, but D-Day has finally arrived after so many deaths here and in the world,” said Tarcis Marques Ticuna, the village doctor. “This is hope for us.”
More than 800,000 indigenous people in Brazil have been severely affected by the pandemic that is sweeping their villages, many of them just days away from the nearest river boat.
The coronavirus killed 926 natives in Brazil and infected more than 46,000, according to the tribal umbrella organization APIB.
Anthropologists have warned that community living, with families sharing homes, has excluded social distance and made them particularly vulnerable to contagion.
Brazil’s right-wing government is facing criticism for its slow response to the pandemic that has so far killed more than 210,000 Brazilians.
Reporting by Leonardo Benassatto and Adriano Machado; Written by Anthony Boadle; Editing by Rosalba O’Brien