Science - USA (2021-12-24)

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People on the neighboring Indigenous

lands of Xipaya and Kuruaya have been vac-

cinated for months, thanks to the federally

funded health department that serves them.

But many of the municipalities responsible

for riverine peoples have neglected vacci-

nations. Altamira started to make the vac-

cine available to these groups in May, but

only after the federal public attorney’s of-

fice started to ask municipalities to enforce

their priority in the national rollout.

Such disparities are nothing new,

says anthropologist Roberta Cerri at the

Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, who is research-

ing health access in these communities. She

believes Brazil should have a separate health

strategy for all traditional people living in

the Amazon forest. “Neither COVID-19 nor

any other infectious disease differentiates if

a person is from an Indigenous tribe or a

riverine community,” she says.

Consistent vaccination across both Indig-

enous and riverine communities is also key to

safeguarding uncontacted tribes in their vi-

cinity. There are about 100 of these groups in

the forest, according to the Brazilian govern-

ment’s National Indian Foundation, and they

are especially vulnerable to many infectious

diseases. “For isolated groups, a flu virus is

already a pandemic, to say nothing of the

coronavirus,” Rodrigues says. In keeping with

Brazil’s long-standing no-contact policy, they

won’t be vaccinated. But inoculating their

neighbors creates a safety barrier, reducing

the chances of the disease reaching them.

IN LAJEADO, the crew improvises a vacci-

nation post with school chairs and a table

under the bright yellow flowers of an ipê-

amerelo tree. After a full day of vaccina-

tions, only one woman is left in line. But

opening a vaccine vial just for her would

mean wasting four of its five doses, which

expire 6 hours after opening. Samya Mauad,

a nurse technician, quickly finds three more

villagers willing to get shots. Still missing

one person, she tries to recruit a man who

came to vaccinate his toddler against child-

hood diseases. But he refuses.

“Did you ever get vaccinated?” she asks.

He nods. “So why don’t you take this one?

The more people get vaccinated, the more

protected we get.” Villagers watching the

scene jump in with words of encourage-

ment. But the pressure irritates the man,

and he walks away, carrying his daughter.

It’s not the first time Mauad has en-

countered hesitancy. Most often, people

are afraid of side effects, and she manages

to convince them, she says. But even in

an area without cellphone reception and

with only a few internet hubs, fake news

spreads. People have told Mauad that the

injection contains a “devil’s chip” to control

minds, that it turns people into homosexuals,

or that it makes them develop AIDS.

Some of the misinformation may come

from certain evangelical missionaries active

in the region, who are currently under scru-

tiny by a parliamentary commission investi-

gating antivaccine propaganda and human

rights violations during the pandemic. Other

falsehoods come from the highest levels of

the Brazilian government: President Jair

Bolsonaro, who regularly criticizes COVID-19

vaccines, said on a Facebook live broadcast

in October that citizens were developing

AIDS after receiving the shot. Few officials

have countered his message. “The Brazilian

federal government has made no effort to

instruct people about the importance of vac-

cinating,” Rodrigues says.

Still, the crew estimates that fewer than

1% of the people approached on this trip

have refused shots. The team is now plan-
ning trips to bring dentists and doctors to
the region and has started to organize an
expedition to vaccinate teenagers, who have
been eligible for vaccination since August.
Despite their isolation, many riverine
people know the pandemic is causing global
waves of illness and want to keep COVID-19
at bay. Antonio Silva Matos, a gold miner in
the city of Novo Progresso traveled about
300 kilometers back to Lajeado, near his
home, to get his shot. (Health authorities
in Novo Progresso would only vaccinate
residents, not migrant laborers, he says.)
The trip required a pickup truck, a bus, a
motorbike, and a motorboat—and cost him
3000 reais (about $600). He didn’t regret it.
“So many people have the vaccine at their
doors and don’t want it,” he says. “I just
PHOTOS: SOFIA MOUTINHO don’t get it.” j

A nurse technician (top) fills a syringe with COVID-19 vaccine in Maribel, Brazil. Nut harvester Francisco dos

Santos shows his vaccination card at the Manelito vaccination stop.

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