BBC News: COVID: Why have deaths soared in Brazil?

Brazil’s COVID-19 response efforts have largely failed to implement quick, coordinated, and equitable responses. The uneven spread of disease across the population and the extensive politicization of the pandemic has led to an unavoidable humanitarian crisis. Unfortunately, Brazil’s universal and comprehensive health care system was unable to address the extensive income and access to quality health resources disparities. According to a Brazilian epidemiologist, Natalia Pasternak, only around half the target of 46 million vaccine doses were delivered by the end of March. Brazil has a domestic production of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine, but due to the shortage of active ingredients, the production of the vaccine has been halted. Moreover, hospital intensive care unit capacity across Brazilian states has reached almost full capacity with 90-99% of ICU beds occupied in Southern states. The severity of COVID-19 is currently toppled with a hunger epidemic with tens of thousands of people facing food shortages and insecurities. The speed of movement of COVID-19 is suggestive of the possibility that Brazil might be home to the possible spur and the emergence of new variants. Brazil remains a threat to the world’s efforts to control the pandemic. Read the full article here