Corona in Brazil: enthusiasm for “shots against the wind”

So far there have been isolated cases in Brazil, but they are making headlines: Patients there received corona vaccines that did not contain any vaccine. Other countries in South America are also doing poorly, with one exception.

The newspapers and news portals in Brazil talk about “vaccines against the wind”: it seems that older people have only been vaccinated against Covid-19 as a pretext. Older people were given the scoop on their upper arms, but vaccination workers did not push the plunger down, or there was nothing in the syringe, or the vaccine was not injected. They are isolated cases, but some are quite simple.

Ivo Marusczyk
ARD-Studio Buenos Aires

Videos prove fake vaccines

In Brazil, self-vaccination routes are widespread. The patients remain seated in the car, the syringe is administered through the open door. Family members like to film this from the driver’s seat, which vaccination workers often cannot see at all. In recent days, videos showing “wind shots” have appeared over and over again.

Mock vaccines were administered in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo, Goiania, Maceió, and Manaus in the Amazon region. There are reports of a dozen cases in the Brazilian media. Some patients were re-vaccinated immediately because the “vaccination against the wind” was noted. The term is misleading because, of course, no air is injected into the patient.

An empty syringe because the dose was missed.

In Petropolis, a nurse admitted such vaccination. He made a mistake, got completely tired, and missed a dose of vaccine. To cover it up, he vaccinated an old man just to pretend and used an empty syringe. The police consider this representation credible. In any case, in this case there is no evidence that vaccination doses were withheld or neglected. Exactly this suspicion is in the room.

Strict prioritization rules still apply in South America: only people of certain age groups are vaccinated. It is obvious that the “vaccinators” are trying to get hold of the coveted syringe even though it is not their turn yet. Especially since all too often in South America, the rules are easy to get around if the price is right.

“Vaccine pusher” scandals in Peru and Argentina

However, so far there is no evidence of a black market for vaccination. However, there have already been tangible “vaccine nuisance” scandals in neighboring Brazil, Peru and Argentina. In Peru, foreign ministers and health ministers had to resign because they were prematurely vaccinated. In Argentina, the Minister of Health, Ginés García, gave his political friends a preferential vaccination.

High officials of his ministry and a journalist friend of García were vaccinated. Likewise, the powerful union boss Hugo Moyano, who also immunized his wife and 20-year-old son, with flimsy justifications. Garcia also had to resign.

It is not a group of old people, but a group of young people

The scandal spreads even further: in the offices of “Cámpora”, a political organization of the ruling Peronists, vaccines are said to have been administered. The “Cámpora” is not a senior group, but a youth group. According to unconfirmed reports, it is said that in Argentina vaccination doses were secretly offered for 50,000 pesos, which would be a good 280 euros at the black market price.

The truth is that regular vaccinations throughout South America progress slowly. Argentina has so far received a good two million doses of vaccines for 44 million inhabitants. In Brazil, many cities have had to interrupt their vaccination campaigns because supplies did not arrive.

Chile is an exception: the vaccination campaign only started there on February 3. But now the country is setting an astonishing pace. One sixth of the population has already been vaccinated, and Chile has even surpassed the US, at least if you look at the rate of first vaccinations.