Brazil Government Fails to Deliver Vaccine to All States on Monday

Vaccine delivery delays in at least 19 states; state governments criticize roadblocks

Recife, Rio de Janeiro , São Paulo, Salvador , Belo Horizonte, Curitiba , Porto Alegre and Manaus

Miscommunication and changes in flight schedules caused the Brazilian government to suffer severe logistical problems in sending vaccines to all states. At least 19 states that were expecting the arrival of the CoronaVac on Monday afternoon did not receive any doses.

Eleven states, including Bahia, Amazonas and Rio Grande do Norte, had to change the schedule and will only start immunization on Tuesday (19).

The breakdown in the delivery logistics provoked criticism from local health officials and governors, who had agreed with the Minister of Health, Eduardo Pazuello, to change the vaccination date from Wednesday (20) to Tuesday (19). But, on Monday morning at an event

in São Paulo in which the minister announced that the states were free to start vaccination from 5 pm on that same day, the teams of governors assumed the date had changed.

The problems were great. In some cases, state officials were already waiting at airports when they were surprised by the changes.

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

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