Rio de Janeiro wants to make Carnival possible through vaccinations
With a view to the world-famous carnival and the New Year’s Eve party in the Copacabana district, the Brazilian metropolis of Rio de Janeiro is promoting vaccinations against the corona virus. “Bora acelerar! (Let’s accelerate) “, wrote Rios Mayor Eduardo Paes on Twitter.
In addition, Paes published the vaccination calendar for the next two weeks. “On July 16, we will have vaccinated the 37-year-olds, which was only scheduled for August 4.” The prognosis is that all “Cariocas”, as the residents of the city on the Sugar Loaf are called, will receive a dose by the middle of August when they are at least 18 years old.
The city administration had already repeatedly brought the target dates forward. Paes stated that he intended to vaccinate the population of the city in time for the carnival next year. He also wanted to organize a carnival celebration with the residents of the island of Paquetá as a test run, so to speak, where last all adults were vaccinated in a model project.
In the metropolis of São Paulo, which has been particularly affected by the out-of-control corona pandemic for months, New Year’s Eve and Carnival are also to be celebrated, as Mayor Ricardo Nunes said.
In Brazil, which only started vaccinations in January, more than 18.5 million people have been shown to have been infected with the coronavirus – only in the USA and India there are more. In addition, over 520,000 patients have died in connection with Covid-19. The largest country in Latin America has 210 million inhabitants and an area 24 times the size of Germany.
Especially at the beginning of the vaccination campaign, cities like Rio de Janeiro suspended vaccinations due to a lack of drug doses. Recently, however, the preparations arrived more regularly. In view of the pandemic, Rio canceled the carnival in February and banned pageants at the time. (dpa)
