'All For Vaccines' Campaign Takes Over The São Paulo Sambadrome, With The Support Of Samba Schools’ Members

This year, instead of uninterrupted parties, the Carnival in São Paulo will be marked by the “All for Vaccines”campaign. Organized by scientific communication institutions, such as Team Halo / United Nations (UN), the COVID-19 Observatory, NPV/USP, Pro-vaccine Union, among others -, the initiative will have its name painted on the renowned “samba runway” at the São Paulo Sambadrome on Friday, February 12. The conclusion of the artistic intervention is scheduled for Saturday morning, when distinguished representatives of samba schools will be attending the event to represent a very small glimpse of what would have taken place in the sambadrome at this time of year. The painting will cover a significant portion of the runway, an area of over 10,000 ft.

The goal is to draw attention to the importance of vaccination against COVID-19 and that everyone has access to vaccines, at a time when Brazil’s famous carnival revelry has been replaced by necessary sanitary measures to prevent the spread of the new coronavirus. According to Flavia Ferrari, from the COVID-19 Observatory, “Carnival is a holiday of monumental importance for the economy of the country and the city of São Paulo, as it has invaluable effects on tourism and culture. The cancellation of parades, as well as street festivities, has a direct impact on the daily life of people in Brazil, and on their emotional well-being”.

Among the most impacted are certainly the thousands of members of the samba schools. And it is precisely some of them who will do the painting, not in an atmosphere of competition, but of cooperation for a common goal. About 80 volunteers from the various samba associations will be responsible for painting the message #TodosPelasVacinas (#AllForVaccines) on the Sambadrome runway, coordinated by Nós Artivistas, a collective of artists and activists. The intervention will be conducted with the collaboration of the São Paulo’s Secretary of Culture and SPTuris, with the support from Suvinil and ANESP.

“The message we are conveying is not only nationally relevant. Overcoming the challenges of the pandemic depends on our solidarity, on a transparent, equitable, and fair global cooperation against the virus. We know that only when all countries are vaccinated will our tourism and economy resume their activities, and only then will we be able to hold Carnival parades again. That is why the message “All for Vaccines” is so powerful, as it reinforces how much our optimism about the future depends on everyone, around the world, being vaccinated”, says Kimberly Mann, director of the United Nations Information Center for Brazil (UNIC Rio de Janeiro).

About the “All for Vaccines” campaign :

The campaign is organized by Team Halo/United Nations (UN),ABRASCO, Unicamp Science Blogs, COSEMS / SP, the Vaccine Research Center at University of São Paulo (NPV-USP), the COVID-19 BR Observatory, the Disseminate Project, the COVID-19 Analysis Network, the USP Vaccine Research Center, ScienceVlogs Brazil, the Brazilian Society of Immunology and the Pro-vaccine Union. The goal is to create a space for dialogue with the general population through content prepared by specialists, as well as a virtual environment where people can send their questions about immunization against COVID-19. The www.todospelasvacinas.info portal is a hub with informative materials in various formats - texts, audio, images and videos - to be shared on social media. On the portal, podcasts created by partner organizations are available, in addition to other materials, such as the e-book “The Practical Guide to Vaccines”, and a collection of artistic assets in the VacinArte space.

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