RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – More than 36,000 members of the Brazilian Army and Air Force (FAB) have reportedly refused to receive the vaccine against the coronavirus.
According to the data on vaccination in Brazil, to which the Brazilian Metrópoles newspaper had access, the number of military personnel who refused to receive the drug against Covid-19 is 32,200 in the Army, which is equivalent to 15% of the members of this force, and 4,300 in the FAB, 6.6% of the total number of its members.
In contrast, data show that 182,900 active soldiers in the Army and 62,100 in the FAB received at least one dose of the vaccine.
Also, about 121,200 Army (56.3%) and 36,500 (54.9%) FAB members were fully immunized, with two doses, against the coronavirus.
As for the booster doses, just over 2,000 Army soldiers (0.9%) and 544 (0.8%) in the FAB received them.
Compared to civilian society, more than 142 million people in Brazil, equivalent to 78.3% of the population over 12 years of age, were adequately immunized against covid-19 and 24.5 million have already received an extra dose.
Last December 31, in a New Year’s message broadcasted by a national radio and television network, the Brazilian president, Jair Bolsonaro, defended those who do not want to be inoculated against the coronavirus.