Composing bodies with the COVID-19 vaccine: the cosmopolitics of health among Guarani peoples

Abstract: In this article, I focus on Guarani Indigenous peoples’ modalities of relating to, trusting, and distrusting the Brazilian Public Health System (SUS) and its agents during the Covid-19 pandemic. I compare relational configurations as a means to understand the reasons for a low take-up of Covid-19 vaccines among Kaiowá collectives in the first moment yet a high rate of vaccination among the Mbyá. I also discuss conceptions of health and the body in light of a guiding framework that aims to reflect on epidemiological protocols that sometimes are disconnected from the Indigenous dynamics and end up clashing counterproductively with their care technologies.

Keywords: COVID-19 vaccination, Indigenous peoples, bodies, trust

Article posted to the Journal of the British Academy, volume 11, supplementary issue 6 (Exploring Medical Mistrust: From Clinic to Community)