‘I was told I had died’: the stories of the first Covid vaccinated in Brazil

That Sunday of January 17, 2021 started as a normal day in the life of Monica Calazans.

At 5:30 am, she took public transport in Itaquera, a neighborhood on the east side of São Paulo, towards the Emílio Ribas Institute of Infectious Diseases, in the west of São Paulo.

The hospital, one of the references in the treatment of infectious diseases in Brazil, is one of Calazans’ workplaces. As a nurse, she also works at the São Mateus Emergency Room, in the eastern region of the city.

When she arrived at Emílio Ribas, she started her shift and was taking care of three patients. Around noon, the infirmary phone rang.

“It was my director. She commented that the vaccination against Covid-19 could start soon”, he recalls.

That same Sunday, the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) was holding a meeting to decide whether the Coronavac (Sinovac/Butantan Institute) and Oxford/Covishield (AstraZeneca/FioCruz) immunizers would receive (or not) authorization to be applied in Brazil.

The meeting, which was attended by the main directors of the agency, was broadcast live on social networks and on some television channels.

If approved, these would be the first Covid-19 vaccines to become available in the country. Until that moment, the disease had already killed 210,000 Brazilians.

After speaking with the director, Calazans went down to the Rebouças Convention Center, which is very close to Emílio Ribas. There would be the place where the first doses of Coronavac would be applied to health professionals.

Around 3 pm, the result came out: Anvisa had approved the vaccines.

“I was sitting in the auditorium of the convention center when I saw a photo of me in a report with the headline: ‘Nurse Mônica Calazans, 54, is the first vaccinated against Covid in Brazil'”, he reports.

The news was first published by journalist Mônica Bergamo, in Folha de S.Paulo.

“Suddenly, I started to hear: ‘Where’s Monica? Where’s Monica?”, he continues.

The nurse guarantees that she had no idea that she would be the first Brazilian vaccinated against Covid-19.

“Do you really think that if I knew that I would appear on national and international television, I wouldn’t make myself a little more, put on a lipstick, touch up my makeup and change my clothes?”, he jokes.

As soon as she received the vaccine in her arm, Calazans says she felt relieved and victorious.

“At that moment, I understood that the kick-off was given to control such a terrible and overwhelming disease. We finally had a solution to protect people”, he understands.

“I raised and clenched my fist because I felt it was a moment of victory,” he adds.

A year after that day, the health professional understands that her choice as the first Brazilian to receive the immunizing agent was surrounded by meanings.

“I am a woman, a single mother, black, a nurse and I work in the SUS [Sistema Único de Saúde] since 1985. In a way, I represent the strength, engagement and commitment of many people”, he says.

The next day

Calazans confesses that he was unable to work on January 18, 2021.

“From 6 am to 9 pm I gave interviews. Everyone wanted to know what my routine was like”, he says.

“And, to be honest, my life has only changed in terms of visibility. I keep working two jobs, I take care of my house, I take public transport, I make dinner…”

Even though her routine has been little changed in these 12 months after becoming the first vaccinated in Brazil, the year 2022 promises changes: on January 5, the G1 portal reported that the nurse joined the MDB party and is pre-registered. candidate for federal deputy in the next elections, scheduled for October.

Asked by BBC News Brasil about the projects in politics, Calazans did not want to give too many details. She commented only that “soon, will have information”.

Returning to the 17th and 18th of January 2021, the nurse thinks that this interest of the press and the population in knowing more about her also has to do with a natural curiosity about the effects of the vaccine.

“People were very concerned about whether there might be an adverse reaction or if I was feeling bad,” he says.

It was precisely at that moment that fake news about her health status began to appear on messaging apps and social networks.

“I was told that I had died after the vaccine,” she says.

“I even told my mother that I was afraid to walk down the street and people would hit me with a stick, thinking I was a ghost”, he recalls.

From that period, Calazans remembers a specific story that involved an app driver.

“I was wearing a mask and dressed in white, with my work clothes. The driver realized that I am a health professional and commented: ‘You know that woman who took the vaccine against Covid? Poor thing, she is very bad, hospitalized and everything. Why did she do that? She shouldn’t have taken it,'” he says.

The nurse says that she just listened to the whole story until she reached her destination. “When I got out of the car, I quickly took off the mask and said: ‘Do you know the first vaccinated woman you say is sick? It’s me!”, she reports.

“He froze, he didn’t know how to react,” he adds.

Calazans knows that greater recognition and promotion as a public figure has also brought with it many responsibilities.

“Since that day, I have to be very careful with what I say and what I post on social networks. I have to bring information and make people aware of the importance of vaccination to save lives”, he highlights.

The storm and the calm

Shortly after the start of vaccination against Covid in January 2021, Brazil experienced its worst moment of the pandemic so far.

Between the months of February and June, the country broke records of cases and deaths and witnessed the collapse of the health system in many cities.

“We couldn’t handle the amount of patients who came to us. I saw the numbers increase and thought that soon everyone would die”, confesses the nurse.

“But as the vaccination progressed, I noticed that the cases were decreasing and we gradually got out of that more difficult period”, he observes.

With the drop in infections and deaths from Covid from the second half of 2021, Calazans says there has been a change in the profile of patients seeking care.

“Those people with comorbidities who were afraid to go to health facilities reappeared to take better care of other diseases”, says the health professional, who also noticed an increase in the arrival of patients with symptoms of respiratory infections in recent weeks.

Experiences, learnings and future projects

When asked by the BBC News Brasil report about the story that most marked her trajectory since the beginning of the pandemic, Calazans brings the answer on the tip of her tongue.

“I can spend hours counting cases and more cases, but the first one that comes to my mind happened on December 31, 2020”, he highlights.

“I was at the São Mateus Emergency Department when I saw a 68-year-old man who had been diagnosed with Covid and needed to be hospitalized. He would be transferred to Parelheiros, in the south zone, on the other side of town.”

“I had to put him in the ambulance and tell the son that he couldn’t go with him. Imagine, separating a family just at the turn of the year, a date that we want to celebrate and be close to the ones we love.”

The nurse remembers that, in the rush of care, she ended up exchanging telephone contacts with the patient’s son.

“To my surprise, I received a message on January 17th (date she was vaccinated). The son wrote to me that he was very happy to know that the first person vaccinated had taken care of his father and thanked him as the man had recovered after spending five days in the hospital,” he says.

Although one story or another is etched in his memory, Calazans understands that the experience of dealing directly with the biggest pandemic of the century has brought a series of lessons.

“I learned that you need to have more empathy and always put yourself in the other person’s shoes”, he says.

“It is necessary to take good care of everyone, because one day it will be me, or someone in my family, who will need the same care.”