As COVID-19 vaccines roll out, you鈥檇 think Latin America would be a serious distribution point 鈥� if really scary pandemic infection and death rates are any criteria.
Instead, thanks to really scary pandemic crisis leadership 鈥� right-wing and left-wing 鈥� the continent鈥檚 vaccine scenario so far looks as harrowing as its virus tragedy.
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Latin America and the Caribbean account for only a twelfth of the global population. But the region has registered a fifth of the world鈥檚 novel coronavirus cases and a third of its deaths. Brazil has the world鈥檚 third-highest number of infections and the second-highest fatality count, behind the U.S. (which itself accounts for less than one-twentieth of the planet鈥檚 population.)
So Latin America鈥檚 vaccine campaign should be radiating all the capable heroism of Bol铆var crossing the Andes, right? Wrong. In the U.S. this week, nurses wielding vaccination syringes are attracting more paparazzi than Kardashians crossing red carpets. But in Brazil the largest newspaper, Folha de S茫o Paulo, describes President Jair Bolsonaro鈥檚 lame vaccine efforts as 鈥渉omicidal negligence鈥� and 鈥渒iller stupidity.鈥�
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says Bolsonaro 鈥� a right-wing populist who dismisses COVID-19 as 鈥渁 little flu鈥� and fiercely attacks mask-wearing and social distancing 鈥� has 鈥渁bandoned鈥� his pandemic-ravaged country and squandered its pharmaceutical logistics prowess.
Even the conservative Brazilian daily O Estado de S茫o Paulo accuses Bolsonaro of 鈥渓ethal incompetence.鈥� It warns his government is woefully behind the curve on vaccine procurement and approval 鈥� made worse this week by a dispute with China over authorizing its CoronaVac vaccine 鈥� and even at reversing a national syringe shortage.
Given Latin America's COVID horrors, its vaccine campaign should be radiating all the capable heroism of Bol铆var crossing the Andes, right? Wrong. Brazil's largest newspaper calls President Bolsonaro's lame efforts "homicidal negligence."
鈥淭here isn鈥檛 a single aspect of the handling of this crisis that hasn鈥檛 been contaminated by [Bolsonaro鈥檚] obscurantism, neglect, incompetence or dishonesty,鈥� O Estado said in over the weekend.
Next door in Argentina, the left-wing government of President Alberto Fern谩ndez isn鈥檛 getting quite such damning reviews 鈥� but a cloud of scandal has formed over its vaccine work anyway.
SPUTNIK DEAL
Fern谩ndez at least gets credit for getting off the presidential sofa and acknowledging his own country鈥檚 red-alert vaccine needs. Argentina鈥檚 per capita COVID death tally ranks ninth in the world and is the second worst in Latin America after Peru. So its White House, the Casa Rosada, last week struck an initial deal for 10 million doses of Russia鈥檚 vaccine, called Sputnik V.
Sputnik itself isn鈥檛 the real problem. True, naming a vaccine after a space program best known for blasting off first but then losing the race to the Moon doesn鈥檛 exactly elicit gushing confidence. But its effectiveness is reportedly 91 percent.
The issue instead, the one Argentine media have been jumping on in recent weeks, is the shady character representing dictatorial Russian President Vladimir Putin at the Buenos Aires negotiating table: former Venezuelan presidential adviser, ambassador, wannabe Hollywood player and all-round leftist opportunist Max Arvelaiz.
As I recounted earlier this year, in the 2000s Arvelaiz was in charge of selling the world a b.s. image of then-President Hugo Ch谩vez as a more democratic 鈥�21st-century鈥� Marxist. Then, as Venezuela鈥檚 ambassador to Brazil 鈥� , citing Brazilian judicial documents it recently verified 鈥� Arvelaiz allegedly played bagman when Brazilian construction firms paid Ch谩vez鈥檚 regime multi-million-dollar bribes for Venezuelan public works contracts.
Arvelaiz, who has not commented on the allegations, eventually drifted to Hollywood, where he was an executive producer on Oliver Stone鈥檚 fawning 2017 Putin documentary, The Putin Interviews. And now he鈥檚 peddling Vladimir鈥檚 vaccine. So you can forgive Argentines, from Porte帽os to Patagonians, for wondering if more weirdness lurks in this transaction if not in the vaccine itself. Maybe that鈥檚 partly why Fern谩ndez says he鈥檒l be the first Argentine to take the Sputnik shot.
A larger problem of course is that Latin America鈥檚 developing countries, unlike economic powers such as the U.S., China and the E.U., don鈥檛 and usually can鈥檛 produce their own vaccines. And so far, the one sizable supply source they're counting on 鈥� COVAX, a project led by the World Health Organization to secure sufficient vaccine doses for poorer nations 鈥� is coming up short.
Still, that鈥檚 no excuse for AWOL vaccine leadership in COVID-devastated countries like Brazil, Argentina, Mexico and Peru. In fact, it鈥檚 all the more reason their suffering citizens right now need leaders who鈥檒l cross the Andes for them.
