The first two vaccine injections I had were AstraZeneca, but this time I had the Pfizer vaccine at a drive-thru vaccination center.
The numbers of people infected with COVID-19 slowly began falling across Brazil, not just São Paulo, around the middle of last year. Some people were still working from their home office, but restaurants, shops, and so on were operating almost as normal, and it seemed as though we were nearly over the pandemic. The custom in Brazil being to exchange gifts in the December Christmas season, shopowners were happy with the higher than usual sales, and end-of-year parties were permitted for up to 30 people, depending on the location. There were also increases across the board in travel and homecoming visits around the end of the year and New Year.
But then we were told about the omicron variant and on December 2nd, Brazil confirmed its first case. They say that omicron is very contagious. We were told in the media to pay heightened attention to the precautions: get vaccinated, wear a mask, use hand sanitizer, and avoid crowded places. But people didn’t change their plans and went ahead with gatherings and travel.
Then at about the same time the omicron variant emerged, Brazil was hit by an outbreak of a new mutant strain of the H3N2 influenza virus called “Darwin.” It’s summer in Brazil now. So, why the flu outbreak now, even though it’s most common in winter.
The government ran a winter flu vaccination campaign with the target of vaccinating 90% of the population at high risk, the elderly and children, but it only reached 78%. In 2020 it reached 82%, and in 2019, 91%. They say the reason is that they couldn’t vaccinate enough people, and they loosened the requirement to wear a mask because the number of COVID-19 cases was falling. The flu broke out at the end of the year in Rio de Janeiro, then spread to 22 states, first of all São Paulo, and the number of cases has been increasing rapidly.
At the start of 2022, queues appeared at emergency departments again with people suffering fever, sore throat, and pain throughout the body. People just wanted to see a doctor and get tested to find out whether what they had was the omicron variant of COVID-19 or the flu.
According to data from São Paulo state, as of January 16th, COVID-19 cases accounted for 47.1% of intensive care patients. The number of hospitalized patients was 51.7%. This figure is increasing day by day, which is a worry.
In Brazil, 145 million people have received either one or two vaccine doses. That is 68.1% of the national population. Of the states, São Paulo is the highest, with 79.24% of the population vaccinated. In mid-January Brazil too started vaccinating children between 5 and 11 years with the Pfizer vaccine.
This situation has meant cancellation of Carnival in the streets, although samba school parades are permitted in São Paulo during the Carnival festival holidays starting at the end of February.
We can’t let our guard down yet. Let’s do what we can for each other and hope it ends soon.
