President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro has attacked Covid-19 vaccines, claiming that Pfizer’s vaccine will make women grow beards and turn people into crocodiles.
Bolsonaro said in a speech in Porto Seguro in northeastern Brazil that “in the contract with Pfizer, they clearly state: we are not responsible for any side effects. If you turn into a crocodile, that’s your problem”.
He was referring to the vaccine developed by the U.S. laboratory and the German company Biontech. It was tested in Brazil for weeks, and the U.K. and the U.S. began to use it.
The far-right president provocatively said: “If an individual turns into a superman, if a woman grows a beard or if a man starts speaking in an effeminate voice, they have nothing to do with it”.
Despite the president’s resistance, Brazil’s Supreme Court decided on Thursday to demand the anti-Covid-19 vaccination, without it being mandatory in the second most affected country after the United States, with about 185,000 deaths.
In other words, the authorities will not be able to use force to compel a person to be vaccinated. Instead, they will be able to impose fines or prohibit non-vaccinated people from going to public places.
Jair Bolsonaro said in Porto Seguro that “once the vaccine is certified by the health agency Anvisa, it will be available to anyone who wants it. But I won’t get vaccinated… Some people say that I am setting a bad example, I answer to the fools and idiots who say that I have already caught the virus, I have the antibodies, so why should I get vaccinated?”
The President has apparently ignored the cases of recontamination that have occurred around the world, including in Brazil.
Bolsonaro was contaminated in July, and recovered after twenty days without serious symptoms.
The country of continental dimensions with a population of 212 million faces a second powerful wave of the pandemic. Indeed, on Wednesday it recorded more than 70,000 new infections and 1,000 deaths in 24 hours, for the first time since September 30.
Vaccination in Brazil is therefore shaping up to be chaotic, with a late national immunization plan that has been criticized from all sides. Add to this the President’s deterrent words that will affect the motivation of Brazilians to get vaccinated.
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