RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – (Opinion) Saturday, June 19, the city of Ribeirão Preto, São Paulo, where I now live, celebrated 165 years since its founding in 1856 with an official local holiday. Happy Anniversary!
Saturday, June 19, the United States of America, where I was born and raised, celebrated 156 years since the announcement, in Galveston, Texas, of General Order No. 3 proclaiming the emancipation of all slaves. Happy Anniversary!
Saturday, June 19, the country of Brazil, where I have lived for almost 50 years, marked 465 days since the first of 500,000+ coronavirus deaths; there was nothing to celebrate. Unhappy Anniversary!
Saturday, June 19, the streets of many Brazilian cities hosted thousands of demonstrators decrying the deaths and the anti-science, anti-vaccine campaigns of Brazil’s leader Jair Bolsonaro.
The Bolsonaro administration, unsurprisingly, did find cause for celebration. Communications Minister Fábio Faria criticized politicians, celebrities, and journalists for “lamenting” the half-million deaths, rather than “commemorating” the application of 86 million vaccine doses, or the 18 million people “cured” of the coronavirus.
Let us consider the administration’s claims.
Brazil has topped half a million deaths from Covid-19, and is still averaging over 2,000 deaths per day; the U.S. daily average is 400 and falling. At this rate, Brazil should surpass the U.S. in number of deaths well before the end of this year.
There is one principal cause behind this unmitigated disaster: Jair Bolsonaro’s unshakable, unscientific belief that “herd immunity by contamination” is the best way to overcome the pandemic.
The theory of “herd immunity by contamination” was a corollary of the “vertical confinement” alternative to social distancing – only those above a certain age (60+) should be confined, while others should work, because (supposedly) younger people are more resistant and would not be seriously affected, let alone die.
Spain and Italy tried vertical confinement, with disastrous consequences, and abandoned it long before the appearance of new and more deadly coronavirus variants that are demonstrably fatal to younger people, as is shown daily in Brazil.
Bolsonaro continues to believe in herd immunity by contamination, in spite of the corpses that prove him wrong.
The other causes of Brazil’s public health disaster – the lack of vaccines; the lack of intensive care units; the lack of respect for protective measures such as masks and social distancing; the propaganda for quack medicine and “preventive treatment” – are also directly attributable to Bolsonaro and his ministers.
Minister Faria’s “commemoration” of 86 million vaccinations is misleading, as it incorrectly adds together the 63 million first doses and the 23 million second doses applied. The absolute minimum percentage for achieving herd immunity (through vaccination) is when 50% of the population have received both doses – but only 11% of Brazilians have so far had both.
Further, Faria’s “commemoration” of 18 million “cured” patients is simply a lie. No one has been “cured” of Covid-19, because there is no cure. There is no cure for the common cold, for polio, for measles, for HIV, nor for any viral disease – there is recovery through treatment of symptoms or prevention through mass vaccination.
After the “commemorations”, three important questions remain unanswered:
1) Does Bolsonaro’s mishandling of the pandemic constitute a crime under Brazilian law or even the crime of “genocide” under international law?
2) Does Bolsonaro’s mishandling of the pandemic constitute a political “crime of accountability” subjecting him to impeachment under Brazil’s constitution?
3) Will the Senate “Covid CPI” inquiry bear fruit, or will it be merely another soapbox platform for grandstanding politicians?
We will explore these questions further in other essays.