Prostitutes go on strike for a week to demand to be among the ‘front line’ workers given priority over Covid-19 vaccines in Brazil
- Sex workers in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte demonstrated on Monday
- Pandemic-related hotel closings have forced thousands to recruit customers on the streets, they say
- They call on the government to recognize them as frontline workers and say they are at increased risk of contracting coronavirus
- The Brazilian government has prioritized health workers, teachers, the elderly, indigenous peoples and those with underlying health problems for vaccines
- The sex workers said they should be counted among the health workers because they provide health information to clients and colleagues
Sex workers in a Brazilian city have been on strike for a week and are demanding to be included in the group of front-line workers who receive priority coronavirus vaccines.
Pandemic-related hotel closures in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte have forced thousands of prostitutes to look for clients on the streets, they say.
“We are on the front lines, moving the economy and in danger,” Cida Vieira, president of Mins Gerais State’s Association of Prostitutes, told AFP news agency.
“We need to be vaccinated.”
Sex workers in a Brazilian city have been on strike for a week and are demanding that they be included in the group of front-line workers who receive a priority coronavirus vaccine. Pictured: Women holding signs that read: ‘Ministry of Health, include us sex workers as a priority vaccination group’ and ‘Sex workers are a priority group’
Pandemic-related hotel closures in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte have forced thousands of prostitutes to look for clients on the streets, they say. Pictured: sex workers protest in Belo Horizonte on Monday
Vieira and other women held a protest Monday on a street with shuttered hotels where they used to work, with signs saying “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 at stake,” said Lucimara Costa, one of the sex workers who protested.
‘We are a priority group, we are health educators, peer educators. We are part of that group, as we educate about STIs for men, hand out condoms … ”said Vieira.
The Brazilian government has prioritized health workers, teachers, the elderly, indigenous peoples and those with underlying health problems for the first round of vaccinations. Pictured: A sex worker is holding a sign that reads: ‘Sex workers are health workers too’ during a protest
The Brazilian government has prioritized health workers, teachers, the elderly, indigenous peoples and those with underlying health problems for the first round of vaccinations.
It hopes to vaccinate these priority groups, approximately 77 million people, in the first half of 2021, but experts say the process could continue into September due to a shortage of doses.
Like the rest of Brazil, the state of Minas Gerais is experiencing a second wave of pandemic, but the death toll per 100,000 inhabitants, 121, is among the lowest in the country.
The Covid-19 pandemic claimed more than 332,000 lives in Brazil, a toll after the United States.
On Tuesday, Brazil registered 86,979 new cases. For the first time, more than 4,000 deaths were recorded in one day, with 4,195 reported.