Questões de Inglês

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Brazil is brilliant at vaccinations. So what went wrong this time?

    When it comes to Covid-19 vaccination programs, there are some countries that have exceeded expectations and others that have fallen surprisingly short. And then there is Brazil. Vaccinating over 210 million people may sound daunting, but for Brazil it really shouldn’t be. With one of the largest universal, free-of-charge public health systems in the world, the country has a distinguished track record of vaccinations and disease control. The National Immunization Program, founded in 1973, helped to eradicate polio and rubella in the country and currently offers more than 20 vaccines free in every municipality.

    Along with the infrastructure to distribute vaccines, there’s also the expertise to do so: in 1980, the country vaccinated 17.5 million children against polio in a single day. In 2010, over 89 million doses of the swine flu vaccine were administered in under four months. And last year, more than 70 million Brazilians received their annual shot against influenza.

    But despite these advantages, Brazil’s vaccine rollout has been painfully slow, inconsistent and marred by shortages. The nationwide program began on Jan. 18, later than over 50 countries, and its current rate will take more than four years to complete. Several major cities, such as Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, have already had to stop their campaigns because of problems in supply. In a country where the pandemic has wrought terrible damage, the failure amounts to a disaster. So what went wrong? Perhaps we should look to "Zé Gotinha", Joe Droplet: He seems to know exactly who to blame.

    From the beginning, Mr. Bolsonaro’s government downplayed the seriousness of the pandemic. The president fought against masks and social distancing measures, comparing the coronavirus to rain that would fall on most people while drowning just some of them. ("It’s no use staying home crying," he recently said, after the country registered 1,452 deaths on a single day.) In the middle of the outbreak, he managed to get rid of two health ministers - both doctors - who threatened to contradict him, replacing them with an army general.

From: shorturl.at/vwEMQ. Accessed on 04/17/2021

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Brazil is brilliant at vaccinations. So what went wrong this time?

    When it comes to Covid-19 vaccination programs, there are some countries that have exceeded expectations and others that have fallen surprisingly short. And then there is Brazil. Vaccinating over 210 million people may sound daunting, but for Brazil it really shouldn’t be. With one of the largest universal, free-of-charge public health systems in the world, the country has a distinguished track record of vaccinations and disease control. The National Immunization Program, founded in 1973, helped to eradicate polio and rubella in the country and currently offers more than 20 vaccines free in every municipality.

    Along with the infrastructure to distribute vaccines, there’s also the expertise to do so: in 1980, the country vaccinated 17.5 million children against polio in a single day. In 2010, over 89 million doses of the swine flu vaccine were administered in under four months. And last year, more than 70 million Brazilians received their annual shot against influenza.

    But despite these advantages, Brazil’s vaccine rollout has been painfully slow, inconsistent and marred by shortages. The nationwide program began on Jan. 18, later than over 50 countries, and its current rate will take more than four years to complete. Several major cities, such as Rio de Janeiro and Salvador, have already had to stop their campaigns because of problems in supply. In a country where the pandemic has wrought terrible damage, the failure amounts to a disaster. So what went wrong? Perhaps we should look to "Zé Gotinha", Joe Droplet: He seems to know exactly who to blame.

    From the beginning, Mr. Bolsonaro’s government downplayed the seriousness of the pandemic. The president fought against masks and social distancing measures, comparing the coronavirus to rain that would fall on most people while drowning just some of them. ("It’s no use staying home crying," he recently said, after the country registered 1,452 deaths on a single day.) In the middle of the outbreak, he managed to get rid of two health ministers - both doctors - who threatened to contradict him, replacing them with an army general.

From: shorturl.at/vwEMQ. Accessed on 04/17/2021

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In food-rich Brazil, people go hungry as pandemic rages (Part I)

   The lines of homeless and other needy people waiting for free meals in the streets of Brazil are growing longer as the Covid-19 pandemic rages out of control. In downtown Sao Paulo, Miguel da Silva clutches a sealed package containing rice, vegetables and meat or fish after lining up with some 300 other people, most of them panhandlers. "It is better to come here than to ask for money"in the streets, said da Silva, 70, who says his pension has been held up by the government and spends what little he earns on his rent.

    Under the crushing sun of Rio de Janeiro, a man named Mario Lima is also waiting for a food handout, along with hundreds of elderly people, pregnant women and homeless folk. For many, it is their only meal of the day. "Everything is expensive. If I were to buy the food they are giving out here, it would cost more than 1,000 reals ($170) a month,"said Lima, who is 72. His retirement pension is enough for his rent, a few basic expenses and nothing else.

    Da Silva and Lima provide just two snapshots of how Brazil is growing poorer during the Covid-19 pandemic. The global health crisis has left more than 315,000 people dead in the country and millions unemployed, and has pushed many people into poverty and hunger, who did not know such pain before.

From: shorturl.at/wJKRZ. Accessed on 04/17/2021

KENYA BLOCKS ENTRY FOR NON-RESIDENTS IN VIRUS RESPONSE

Africa now has 25 countries reporting coronavirus cases compared with just nine infections a week ago.

Kenya unveiled a series of strict measures to curb coronavirus on Sunday, blocking entry to the country to all except citizens and residents and shutting schools as the number of confirmed cases rose to three.

Health Minister Mutahi Kagwe announced two people who sat next to the first patient on the aeroplane as
she travelled back from the United States via London had tested positive. “As a result of this, we are going to
[5] implement the following measures: Only Kenyan citizens and foreigners with valid resident permits will be
allowed to come into the country provided they proceed on self-quarantine or in a government quarantine
facility,” President Uhuru Kenyatta said. Kenyatta added that this would come into effect in the next 48 hours
and would remain in place for 14 days. Every foreigner who has entered the country in the past 14 days has
been ordered to self-quarantine.

[10] In addition from Monday, all primary and secondary schools are to close, with boarding schools and
university to shut by the end of the week. All companies have been urged to allow employees to work from
home. Kenyatta also said citizens should avoid congregating in places of worship and shopping malls. “I
want to assure you that my administration is at the forefront of managing this pandemic,” he said.
 

After being relatively spared from the global pandemic that has killed more than 6,000 and infected nearly
[15] 160,000, Africa now has 25 countries reporting cases compared with nine a week ago.

Ethiopia, which like Kenya reported its first case on Friday, on Sunday said three contacts of its initial patient
had tested positive. “The three cases include two Japanese citizens aged 44 and 47, and the other one is
Ethiopian aged 42. All of them work in Addis Ababa and had close contact with the first confirmed case,”
the health ministry said in a Facebook post. Ethiopia, Africa’s second-most populous nation with more than
[20] 100 million people and a key hub into the continent, is one of few countries in the region to not implement
measures such as blocking travellers to block the spread. […]

Three days after the World Health Organization (WHO) described the outbreak as a pandemic, there
is concern among health specialists about the ability of some African nations to meet the logistical and
financial challenges posed by the fast-spreading virus. Borders are porous, and many nations have extremely
[25] poor health infrastructure. Some countries, like Somalia, are fighting rebellions while others, such as South
Sudan, have high levels of malnutrition. But governments are implementing preventive steps to try to keep
the virus at bay.

The United Nations said as of Friday, 39 countries had closed schools worldwide, affecting more than 420
million children and young people.

Adapted from Aljazeera. Available on aljazeera.com. Last acess: 15 Mar 2020.