Brazil’s Bolsonaro again targets child vaccination and Health regulator

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – One day after the federal government announced the schedule for childhood vaccination against Covid-19, President Jair Bolsonaro again criticized the vaccine for children.

In an interview with Pernambuco’s TV Nova Nordeste, Bolsonaro said he will not vaccinate his 11-year-old daughter and accused the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA) technicians of having some vested interest in releasing the vaccine.

“ANVISA regrettably approved the vaccine for children aged between 5 and 11. I would like to offer my opinion. My 11-year-old daughter will not be vaccinated,” Bolsonaro said.

“And are you going to vaccinate your child against something that a young person has a virtually zero chance of dying from? What’s behind it? What is ANVISA’s interest behind it? What is the interest of those ‘vaccine freaks’? Is it for their health? If it were, they would be worried about other diseases in Brazil, which they are not,” the President added.

On Wednesday, January 6, the Ministry of Health reversed its decision to require a doctor’s prescription for childhood vaccination, which will not be mandatory. Immunization is expected to begin in 10 days.

In yesterday morning’s interview, Bolsonaro said: “I ask you, do you know of a child between 5 and 11 years old who has died from Covid? I don’t.”

According to Ministry of Health data, 311 children between the ages of 5 and 11 have died from Covid-19 since the pandemic began.

The President also discussed the vaccine’s potential side effects, and suggested that the population should seek advice, but not necessarily from doctors.

“Talk to your neighbors. How many kids have contracted Covid and absolutely nothing happened to them?” Bolsonaro suggested.

The President’s statements were rebutted by the Brazilian Society of Pediatrics. In a repudiation note that does not mention Bolsonaro’s name, doctors said that “the population should not fear the vaccine, but rather the disease that it seeks to prevent.” And that the “vaccine prevents death, pain, suffering, emergencies and hospitalization in all age groups.

The note also says that denying this benefit and discouraging parents from immunizing their children is “a regrettable and irresponsible act, which, unfortunately, can cost lives.

The conflict between the President and ANVISA gained momentum in December, when the agency approved the use of Pfizer’s vaccine for the 5-11 age group.

Jair Bolsonaro threatened to disclose the names of the technicians who cleared the vaccine, sparking a wave of intimidation.

ANVISA’s director-president Antonio Barra Torres, a Navy reserve officer, was appointed by Bolsonaro himself. He has complained that the government has excluded the agency from decisions on the pandemic.

On Thursday night, January 6, in his weekly live stream, the President once again attacked ANVISA.

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