RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – The Amazonian city of Manaus has begun administering coronavirus vaccines, providing a ray of hope for the largest city in the rainforest, whose health system is collapsing amid rising infections and declining oxygen supplies.
The governor of the state of Amazonas, Wilson Lima, led a ceremony that started the vaccination campaign on Monday night in Manaus, an isolated city on the river, with 2.2 million people.
Vanda Ortega, 33, a member of the Witoto ethnic group and a technical assistant, received the first dose of CoronaVac, a vaccine developed by the Beijing biopharmaceutical company Sinovac.
“I want to thank God and our ancestors,” said Ortega, who is also a volunteer nurse in her native community.
Brazil on Monday began launching its national immunization program with 6 million doses of CoronaVac in nearly a dozen states and hopes to receive 46 million doses by April to be distributed among states. Amazon received 256,000 doses.
The state government began distributing doses to municipalities on Tuesday. The priority in the first phase of vaccination will be health workers, the elderly over the age of 80 and indigenous people from about 265 villages.
Amazonas has recorded at least 232,000 cases of the virus since the beginning of the pandemic, according to official figures. The state is in the midst of a devastating recurrence of infections and a lack of oxygen supply.
Manaus hospitals have admitted several new patients with COVID-19, causing many to suffer from the disease at home and some to die. And many doctors in Manaus had to choose which COVID-19 patients could breathe while desperate family members were looking for oxygen tanks for their loved ones.
The city receives an average of four Brazilian air force flights a day to boost oxygen stocks, along with a daily shipment from the city of Belem, near the mouth of the Amazon River, according to officials.
The government of Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro, which Bolsonaro regularly criticizes, has authorized the dispatch of a caravan of trucks loaded with 107,000 cubic meters (3.78 million cubic meters) of oxygen that is scheduled to arrive in the Amazon on Tuesday, according to the state government.
Even though Amazonas welcomed the support, Bolsonaro supported criticism of Maduro.
“If you want to give us oxygen, we will get it without any problems,” Bolsonaro said Monday. “But he (Maduro) could give emergency help to his people, right?” The minimum wage there does not buy half a kilogram of rice. ”
The Brazilian Ministry of Health sent seven oxygen generating plants on Sunday, which once installed will supply oxygen to 100 ICUs.
The Amazon government transferred 18 patients by plane to the state of Goiás on Monday. The state has already transferred 112 patients for treatment in the Federal District, Brasilia and other states, according to the state health secretariat.
The collapse of the Manaus health system, which had already been in a critical situation in April last year, has drawn criticism from the government for not anticipating the problems. Thousands protested in Brazilian cities on Friday, the same day as images of desperate relatives searching for oxygen for their loved ones appeared.
Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello acknowledged on Monday that the federal government knew on January 8 that the oxygen supply could be depleted in the Amazon capital, a week before people die in intensive care beds. The speed of hospitalizations has increased significantly in recent days and has made the supplier unable to meet demand, Pazuello said.
A new strain of coronavirus is circulating in Manaus. There have been concerns about greater transmissibility or potential for reinfection, although such possibilities remain unproven.
A positive coronavirus test does not reveal which variant of the virus the patient has, but some epidemiologists have speculated that the new strain was at least partially responsible for driving Manaus’ second wave.
Jesem Orellana, an epidemiologist at the public research institute Fiocruz Amazonia, said the increase in deaths in Manaus is not necessarily due to the new coronavirus mutation.
“Since October, there has been a problem of overcrowding in hospitals. People don’t get there early and end up hospitalized late, in a worse condition, “Orellana told The Associated Press.
“Wherever there is a chaotic situation, lethality is higher, but not necessarily because of the severity of the infectious agent, but rather because of other factors: there are fewer doctors, health professionals are tired, drugs are missing and intensive care is overwhelmed.” added Orellana. “All this creates a climate that favors premature death.”
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Associated Press video journalist Fernando Crispim from Manaus contributed to the report.