Indigenous leaders warn of missionaries who are against vaccines in Amazonian villages

(This February 11 story corrects Purus for a tributary of the Amazon, not Xingú)

BRASILIA (Reuters) – Medical teams working to immunize remote indigenous villages in Brazil against the coronavirus have encountered strong resistance in some communities where evangelical missionaries are fueling fear of the vaccine, say tribal leaders and advocates.

In the São Francisco reserve in the state of Amazonas, Jamamadi residents sent health professionals with bows and arrows when they visited them by helicopter this month, said Claudemir da Silva, an Apurinã leader who represents indigenous communities on the Purus River, a tributary from Amazonas.

“It is not happening in all villages, only in those that have missionaries or evangelical chapels where pastors are convincing people not to get the vaccine, that they will become crocodiles and other crazy ideas,” he said by phone.

This heightened fears that COVID-19 could reach more than 800,000 indigenous people in Brazil, whose community life and often poor health make them a priority in the national immunization program.

Tribal leaders blame Brazil’s far-right president, Jair Bolsonaro, and some of his avid supporters in the evangelical community for stoking skepticism about coronavirus vaccines, despite the national death toll behind the United States.

“Religious fundamentalists and evangelical missionaries are preaching against the vaccine,” said Dinamam Tuxá, leader of APIB, the largest indigenous organization in Brazil.

The Association of Brazilian Anthropologists denounced religious groups not specified in a statement on Tuesday for spreading false conspiracy theories to “sabotage” indigenous vaccinations.

Many pastors in Brazil’s urban evangelical mega-churches are asking followers to be vaccinated, but say missionaries in remote territories have not received the message.

“Unfortunately, some pastors who lack wisdom are spreading wrong information to our indigenous brothers,” said Pastor Mario Jorge Conceição of the Traditional Church Assembly of God in Manaus, capital of the state of Amazonas.

The government’s indigenous health agency Sesai told Reuters in a statement that it is working to raise awareness of the importance of immunization against the coronavirus.

Bolsonaro downplayed the severity of the virus and refused to get the vaccine himself. He especially scoffed at the most widely available shot in the country, made by Sinovac Biotech of China, citing doubts about its “origins”.

At an event in December, the president ridiculed vaccine maker Pfizer because he said the company refused to take responsibility for side effects in negotiations with his government.

“If you get the vaccine and become a crocodile, it’s your problem. If you become a Superman or women grow a beard, I have nothing to do with it ”, said Bolsonaro sarcastically.

Pfizer said it proposed standard contractual guarantees to the Brazilian government that other countries accepted before using their vaccine.

Access to social networks, even in remote corners of Brazil, spread false rumors about coronavirus vaccines.

For example, tribal chief Fernando Katukina, 56, of the Nôke Kôi people, near the border with Peru, died on February 1 of cardiac arrest related to diabetes and congestive heart failure. The news spread quickly on social media and on the radio that the COVID-19 vaccine he received in January had caused his death.

The Butantan biomedical center, which is producing and distributing the Sinovac vaccine, has endeavored to convince the indigenous people that this was not the case.

“The social media messages saying that Fernando Katukina died after taking the COVID-19 vaccine are false news,” wrote Butantan in a tweet.

COVID-19 killed at least 957 indigenous people, according to the APIB, of about 48,071 confirmed infections among half of Brazil’s 300 native ethnic groups. The numbers may be much higher, because the health agency Sesai only monitors indigenous people living in the reserves.