Brazil Supreme Court overrules Health Ministry, demands proof of vaccination for foreign visitors

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Once again, the Brazilian Federal Supreme Court (STF), has overruled the Health Ministry; this time it has ruled that foreign travelers may not enter Brazil without a vaccine passport, eliminating the alternative of a 5-day quarantine.

STF Justice Luis Roberto Barroso ruled this Saturday (11) that the Brazilian government must require proof of vaccination against Covid-19 to allow entry into the country, both by air and land.

The decision is effective from the time it is notified to the agencies involved, which should take place this Monday (13). The individual decision has been sent to the full 11-member STF for ratification (or not) in a special session called for Wednesday (15)

According to Barroso, the substitution of the immunization test by a five-day quarantine, a possibility that the government regulation offered to the unvaccinated, should only be given in exceptional cases, for people who cannot be vaccinated for medical reasons or who come from countries with a low supply of immunizing agents.

The Justice ruled that the federal government should fully accept the terms of two technical notes of the National Health Regulation Agency (Anvisa), sent in November to the Chief of Staff to help decide whether vaccination is necessary for entry into the country.

President Bolsonaro has repeatedly denied Anvisa’s requests to require proof of vaccination for visitors. But Barroso said in his decision that Brazil must avoid supporting what he called “anti-vaccine tourism” in view of the Constitution’s mandate for the government to support public health and life in the face of a disease that has killed over 600 thousand Brazilians.

In a separate matter, the Health Ministry has postponed for a week a regulation that would require unvaccinated visitors to be quarantined for five days, following a hacker attack on the Ministry on Friday.