Brazil’s catastrophic management of COVID-19 threatens the entire world

Published in Open Democracy

By Robert Muggah

The world is nearing the light at the end of the pandemic tunnel thanks to the effectiveness of mobility restriction, social distancing, usage of masks and the start of massive vaccination campaigns. However, there is a black hole on the planet, and its name is Brazil.

To add on top of the catastrophic denialism of President Jair Bolsonaro in the face of the virus, comes the variant that emerged in the state of Amazonas in northern Brazil, which has put the country – and the world – at risk. This development also provides lessons about COVID-19 and the crucial importance of taking epidemics seriously.

Bolsonaro’s administration is largely responsible for all of this chaos, which has killed 270,000 Brazilians. As Robert Muggah of the Igarapé Institute has argued, his denialism in the face of the severity of the disease and inability to curb the outbreak, along with his anti-vaccine crusade, goes beyond creating a national tragedy – it has produced a global threat.

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