Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has launched an attack on vaccines against the coronavirus, even suggesting that the one developed by Pfizer-BioNTech could turn people into crocodiles or bearded women.
The far-right leader has been skeptical of the coronavirus since it first appeared late last year, calling it “a bit of the flu.” This week he insisted that he would not be vaccinated, even as he launched the country’s mass vaccination program.
“It’s very clear in the Pfizer contract: ‘We are not responsible for any side effects.’ If you turn into a crocodile, it’s your problem, ”Bolsonaro said Thursday.
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That vaccine has been tested in Brazil for weeks and is already being used in the United States and Britain.
“If you become superhuman, if a woman starts to grow a beard or if a man starts talking in an effeminate voice, they will have nothing to do with it,” he said, referring to drug makers.
Launching the immunization campaign on Wednesday, Bolsonaro also said it would be free but not mandatory.
But the Supreme Court ruled Thursday that the vaccine was mandatory, although it could not be “forced” on people.
That means that the authorities can fine people for not being vaccinated and ban them from certain public spaces, but not force them to take it.
Brazil has registered more than 7.1 million cases and almost 185,000 deaths from Covid-19 among its population of 212 million.
Read also: Brazilian President Bolsonaro says he will not take the Covid-19 vaccine
Bolsonaro said that once a vaccine has been certified by Brazil’s regulatory agency, Anvisa, “it will be available to all who want it. But I won’t get vaccinated. “
“Some people say that I am setting a bad example. But to the idiots, to the idiots who say this, I tell them that I already caught the virus, I have the antibodies, so why vaccinate me?
There have been a small number of cases of apparent reinfection, although it is not certain whether a person can be reinfected or how long immunity lasts.
Bolsonaro contracted the virus in July, but recovered in three weeks.
Brazil is in the midst of a second wave of coronavirus infections.
After peaking from June to August, cases had declined, but that changed in November.
On Thursday, Brazil surpassed 1,000 daily deaths from covid-19 for the first time since September.
The country’s immunization program has been widely criticized for being late and chaotic, especially given Bolsonaro’s opposition.
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