While Brazil bets, even if late, all the chips in vaccination to contain the covid-19, on the other side of the planet, three countries that are among the most successful in controlling the disease have barely launched their immunization campaigns.
Even with less than 4% of the population vaccinated with two doses — Brazil has 10% —, New Zealand, Australia e South Korea keeps the rates of cases and deaths low for months with a combination of quarantines isolated, mass testing and population adherence to sanitary measures.
New Zealand, which in more than a year of pandemic totaled 26 deaths por covid-19, leads a ranking by the Bloomberg agency that evaluates the best places to live during the pandemic, that is, where the disease is effectively contained, with minimal social and economic disruption. Australia is third and South Korea is fifth.
In the opposite situation, with the pandemic out of control and at risk of entering a new wave of cases and deaths, Brazil is in one of the last places in the ranking, in 51st place.
Pre-pandemic normality
In common, the three countries do not give up rational sanitary measures, such as rules of social distancing, mass testing, case tracking and isolated quarantines for outbreak control.
Employed with scientific rigor and with the population’s adherence, the sanitary actions allow life in these countries to continue in an almost pre-pandemic normality and without major economic downturns. The most stringent measure adopted by New Zealand to prevent the emergence of new cases is the restriction of international travel.
28.mar.21 – After reopening, the public participates in a festival in Wellington, in Nova Zelância
Imagem: Zhang Jianyong/Xinhua
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Australia, with 910 deaths since the beginning of the pandemic — less than half of what Brazil has registered daily — has open schools, as well as theater, cinemas and concert halls. But authorities closely monitor the evolution of the disease. This week, Victoria, the country’s second largest state, came into lockdown after registering 15 cases of the Indian variant of coronavirus — and must remain so until no new cases are registered.
Early in the pandemic, South Korea drew international media attention because of drive-thru stations set up for mass testing of residents. When the result is positive, all people who had contact with the patient are contacted and instructed to isolate themselves. The collective protection culture of South Korean society also makes a difference, which already saw the mask as a basic protection item before the emergence of the new coronavirus.
For public health specialists heard by UOL, the exemplary performance of the three countries shows that a major health crisis can only be faced when the whole society is in tune.
The countries that best controlled the pandemic were those that achieved a consensus on the relationship between State, community and individual. There is a notion of collectivity, in which the population adheres to a government recommendation thinking about its role in protecting the whole society”
Christovam Barcellos, public health specialist at Fiocruz
Otherwise, notes Barcellos, we have the situation in Brazil. “Without consensus, we have anarchy. The individual is lost, not knowing what to do in a situation where the boss tells him to work, the mayor says he can, but the governor says no”, exemplifies the sanitarist.
Opinion shared by infectologist Leonardo Weissmann, from Instituto de Infectologia Emílio Ribas. “New Zealand, South Korea and Australia had leadership from their rulers and greater collaboration from their population,” he says.
[Nesses países] There is no denial like in Brazil. Government and population walk in the same direction and direction in the fight against the virus, respecting science and acting for prevention”
Leonardo Weissmann, infectologist at Emílio Ribas
With a health performance opposite to that of the three countries in Asia and Oceania, Brazil, throughout the health crisis, adopted timid isolation measures, without federal guidance and with partial acceptance by society. Now, the country is focusing its efforts on a campaign to vaccinate the population.
Only in this regard Brazil has a better performance than New Zealand, Australia and South Korea. Slowly, the country has already vaccinated 21% of its population with at least one dose. Meanwhile, Australia partially vaccinated 13% of its inhabitants, South Korea only 9% and New Zealand 8%.
But this Brazilian leadership is far from reflecting a good performance in the pandemic. While Brazil registers for six weeks more than 2,000 dead daily by covid-19, Australia buried its latest victim of the disease also six weeks ago.
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