Photo: Marcelo Carmago/Agencia Brasil

Brazil will today launch a ‘Mega Vaccination’ campaign to complete its vaccine cycle.

As part of the campaign, Brazil’s Health Ministry is reducing the six-month period between second vaccination doses and booster shots to five months, while also approving a second J&J dose for two months after the first. Citizens ages eighteen and up will now also be eligible for the booster.

Brazil’s vaccination rollout was initially slow due to President Bolsonaro’s mishandling of the virus, which saw 612,000 deaths—the second-highest toll in the world. Last year, Bolsonaro ignored Pfizer’s offers to supply vaccines and stoked vaccine hesitancy by refusing vaccination and making outlandish claims, including linking the vaccine to AIDS.

Despite Bolsonaro’s efforts, Brazil has quickly developed one of the fastest-paced vaccine campaigns in the world. Recent polls showed 94% of Brazilians support the vaccine. Since securing doses, Brazil’s vaccination rate has soared—73% of the population has received at least one dose. In the coming months, expect Brazil to secure 350 million doses for 2022 and double vaccinate 74% of the population by March. Due to his negligent handling of the pandemic, Bolsonaro may face charges of crimes against humanity ahead of the 2022 presidential election.

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