Prostitutes go on strike for a week to demand they be among ‘frontline’ workers receiving priority Covid-19 vaccines in Brazil
- Sex workers in Belo Horizonte, in the southeast of the city, protested on Monday
- Pandemic-linked hotel closures have forced thousands to solicit customers from the streets, they say
- They ask the government to recognize them as frontline workers, saying they are at increased risk of catching coronavirus
- The Brazilian government has prioritized health workers, teachers, the elderly, indigenous people and people with underlying health conditions for vaccines
- Sex workers said they should be considered among health workers because they provide health information to clients and colleagues
Sex workers in one Brazilian city have been on strike for a week, demanding to be included in the group of frontline workers receiving priority coronavirus vaccines.
Hotel closures linked to a pandemic in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte have forced thousands of prostitutes to solicit customers on the streets, they say.
“We are on the front lines, we are moving the economy and we are taking risks,” Cida Vieira, president of the Mins Gerais State Association of Prostitutes, told AFP news agency.
“We need to get vaccinated.
Sex workers in one Brazilian city have been on strike for a week, demanding to be included in the group of frontline workers receiving the priority coronavirus vaccine. Pictured: Women hold signs saying: ‘The Department of Health, please include sex workers as a priority vaccination group’ and ‘Sex workers are a priority group’
Hotel closures linked to a pandemic in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte have forced thousands of prostitutes to solicit customers on the streets, they say. Pictured: Sex workers protesting in Belo Horizonte on Monday
Vieira and other women staged a protest on Monday in a street lined with closed hotels where they previously worked, holding up signs with messages such as’ Sex workers are health workers too ‘and’ Sex workers are a priority group. ”
“We are part of the priority group because we deal with different types of people and our lives are in danger,” said Lucimara Costa, one of the protesting sex workers.
“We are a priority group, we are health educators, peer educators. We are part of this group, because we give information about STIs to men, distribute condoms… ”, said Vieira.
The Brazilian government has prioritized health workers, teachers, the elderly, natives and people with underlying health conditions for the first round of vaccinations. Pictured: A sex worker holds a sign saying: ‘Sex workers are health workers too’ during a protest
The Brazilian government has prioritized health workers, teachers, the elderly, natives and people with underlying health conditions for the first round of vaccinations.
He hopes to vaccinate these priority groups, some 77 million people, in the first half of 2021, but experts believe the process could take until September due to a shortage of doses.
Like the rest of Brazil, the state of Minas Gerais has struggled with a second wave of the pandemic, but the death toll per 100,000 population, at 121, is among the lowest in the country.
The Covid-19 pandemic has claimed more than 332,000 lives in Brazil, a second just behind the United States.
Brazil registered 86,979 new cases on Tuesday. For the first time, more than 4,000 deaths were recorded in a single day and 4,195 were reported.