In a bizarre comment about COVID-19 vaccines, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said that the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech could turn people into ‘crocodiles’ or ‘bearded ladies’. Earlier, when Brazil launched its mass inoculation campaign, Bolsonaro said that it will not be vaccinated. Since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic around the world, the Brazilian president has been skeptical about the virus and also called it a “little flu.”
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Brazil’s Bolsonaro attacks COVID-19 vaccine
According to local media reports, Jair Bolsonaro said that he will not need the COVID-19 vaccine because he has already tested positive for Coronavirus due to his body having developed the antibodies to the virus. This statement from the country’s president comes when the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine has been tested in Brazil. Meanwhile, Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine is already being used in the United States and Britain.
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Launching the immunization campaign in Brazil on Wednesday, Bolsonaro said that while the coronavirus vaccine is free, it is not mandatory for everyone to get vaccinated. On Thursday, Brazil’s Supreme Court approved a ruling that said the vaccine was mandatory, but that it could not be “forced” on people. According to this latest ruling, the government of the country can fine people for not being vaccinated and even prohibit them from entering certain public spaces, but it cannot force them to take it.
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Since the outbreak of the coronavirus pandemic, Brazil has so far registered more than 7.1 million positive cases, of which almost 1.85,000 people have succumbed to the disease.
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