Sidelining experts, Brazil bungled its immunization plans
(World News Brazil)

RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — Like many Brazilian public health experts, Dr. Regina Flauzino spent most of 2020 watching with horror as COVID-19 devastated Brazil. When the opportunity to join the government`s vaccination effort came, she was thrilled: She would be able to share her decades of on-the-ground experience. But her excitement quickly faded. Flauzino, an epidemiologist who worked on Brazilian vaccine campaigns for 20 years, became frustrated with what she described as a rushed, chaotic process. The government has yet to approve a single vaccine, and Health Ministry officials have ignored outside experts` advice. Shortly after the government presented its vaccination plan, more than a...