Variants, Misinformation, and “Brain Drain”: The COVID-19 Vaccine Experience in Brazil, India, and Africa

In Brazil, the pandemic — and an anti-science environment — has accelerated “brain drain,” an exodus of the country’s scientists and intellectuals, said Beatriz Grinsztejn, infectious disease physician at the Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases-Oswaldo Cruz Foundation.

“The pandemic has implications for Brazil’s educational future,” said Grinsztejn. “Even before COVID-19, we saw dramatic cuts in research funding, and the dismantling of scientific institutions. We’re at risk of losing a generation of Brazilians who are contributing to our scientific, social, and economic development.”

Grinsztejn added that the prolonged pandemic in Brazil has set back poverty reduction goals by 13 years, and a food insecurity crisis is unfolding as well.

“If the vaccine rollout doesn’t scale up in Brazil, the disease will continue to proliferate. And the populations that experience poverty and social inequality will suffer the most.”

Salim Abdool Karim, director of the Centre for the AIDS Programme of Research in South Africa (CAPRISA), expressed concern that Africa is at “the back of the queue” when it comes to vaccine access and coverage.

While some African countries have secured enough doses of the vaccine, they can’t administer them in a timely manner. In South Africa, just 2.4 doses are available for every 100 people — while Canada has 10 doses for every one of its citizens, Abdool Karim said. 

“Some countries are vaccinating children, who are low risk, when Africa has not even completed health care worker vaccinations,” he added.

Variants have also complicated matters, since vaccines that would otherwise be efficacious are not in certain countries. Access to whole-genome sequencing is also limited, which makes it difficult to understand the genomic landscape as new variants emerge.

“When you have low vaccine coverage and high transmission, that leads to new variants. So low vaccination coverage in Africa requires global solutions.”

Although panelists stressed the need for a shared mission and global solidarity to fight COVID-19 — similar to the HIV/AIDS movement — they warned against the notion of “vaccine diplomacy.”

“The term ‘vaccine diplomacy’ is one that’s driven by politics, versus the proper public health planning that we need to achieve vaccine equity,” said Abdool Karim.

Rather than promoting a return to “normalcy,” said Foege of Emory University, the global community should use this tragedy to fight against racism, gender inequity, and other social factors that make life unfair for so many. Echoing other panelists, he emphasized that we can’t live with vaccine stock concentrated in countries that already have control of the pandemic.

“Global solidarity needs to be in place so that all of us become safe,” he said. “It’s not enough for countries to control their situation if all of us don’t get the opportunity to do it together.”

Stephanie Miceli is a media relations officer at the National Academies of Science, Engineering, and Medicine.