Amazon area gets relief with Sinovac doses

Experts hope rollout will halt virus from causing more destruction in indigenous communities

Hit hard by COVID-19, isolated Amazon rainforest communities in Latin America are getting some relief as a Chinese vaccine rollout is expected to keep the pandemic at bay.

Intensive care units and cemeteries in Amazon cities like Manaus in Brazil and Leticia in Colombia were overwhelmed in recent months as a fresh wave of infections, led by a more contagious Brazil P.1 variant of SARS-CoV-2 that has been wreaking havoc in local communities.

But things are starting to change as vaccine distribution by China's Sinovac Biotech is offering hope that the pandemic resurgence can be halted in the worst-hit areas.

Experts noted that Sinovac's CoronaVac offers logistics advantages compared to some vaccines from the West as the Chinese jabs do not require ultra-cold storage chains, making them more suitable for deployment in remote regions.

CoronaVac can be stored in common refrigerators and does not require ultra-freezing chains, allowing it to be brought to more distant areas, said Carlos Alvarez, national coordinator of COVID-19 studies in Colombia for the World Health Organization.

"It is an advantage of this vaccine," Alvarez said.

Sinovac's vaccine is being distributed in the Brazilian Amazon. Alvarez noted that the whole town of Tabatinga, in the border with Colombia, was already immunized with the vaccine.

Leticia launched its vaccination campaign on Tuesday after the arrival of about 40,000 doses of the vaccine in the city and other jungle areas. Its Vasquez Cobo airport has been closed for weeks to prevent the spread of the P.1 strain to the rest of the country. The city had the highest prevalence rate with almost 60 percent of the population testing positive for SARSCoV-2 antibodies.

"Given its proximity to Tabatinga and the triple border with Peru and Brazil, which did not make the right containment and mitigation strategy, Leticia has already seen three peaks of the pandemic," said Luis Hernandez, director of the Covida project, an initiative from Los Andes University in Bogota, Colombia, to track the virus.

In Manaus, capital of Brazil's Amazonas state, the figure for the prevalence rate surpassed 76 percent, according to a study published by Brazilian researchers in mid-January.

"This unfortunate city has become a sentinel for how natural population immunity could influence future transmission. Events in Manaus reveal what tragedy and harm to society can unfold if this virus is left to run its course," stated the study.

The city of Manaus is connected by a river to Tabatinga and Leticia about 1,100 kilometers away. It can take 37 hours to get from the border cities to Manaus by boat.

Despite the distance and complex commute, the P.1 strain and the SARS-CoV-2 virus still spread to Manaus during the first pandemic peak in April and May last year. Manaus cemeteries overflowed with more than 10,500 people succumbing to the virus in the Brazilian state of Amazon. There are more than 301,000 cases of COVID-19 in Amazon.

Alvarez said getting vaccines for the whole Amazon population and particularly in the Colombian side of the border right away-skipping the national strategy of vaccinating the population by groups starting with healthcare workers and the elderly-is the right choice.

"Vaccination in the Amazon is very important. From an epidemiologically perspective, it is the right time to do it, given the presence of the P.1 strain in that territory," he said.

Hernandez from the Covida project agrees.

"The sooner, the better. Since there will be less chances for the virus to create new strains. If the population does not get vaccinated, there will be more chances of having new strains," he said.

The challenge of conducting mass-scale vaccinations in the Amazon is enormous, given the jungle conditions and poor infrastructure to navigate its rivers and land.

"It takes 1.5 hours to get from Leticia to La Chorrera in a single-engine aircraft. By boat, it can be between 15 to 20 days," said Juan Seneray, a nursing technician at the only healthcare center in La Chorrera, a town located near the Igara Parana river. The river is located some 450 kilometers northwest from Leticia.

Despite being a small and hard-to-reach town with a population of only 3,878, La Chorrera has been deeply affected by the virus and seven people have died from it.

With the arrival of Sinovac vaccines, there is plenty of hope among the Amazonian population, many of whom are of indigenous origin.

"Indigenous authorities are working on the vaccination campaign and most members in the community will accept… the jab. We need the vaccines to reach rural areas like ours as soon as possible," Seneray said.

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.