Covid-19: Bolsonaro opposed to vaccinating adolescents in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The president said he will discuss this with Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga, who could not return with him from New York because he was infected with Covid-19.

In his weekly social network live stream, Bolsonaro also mocked the quarantine which he and a number of Ministers are undergoing for having had contact with Queiroga.

“Unfortunately, ANVISA (Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency) recommended that I be quarantined. I asked the people at ANVISA, and at Health too: Do people who are vaccinated need to be quarantined? Hey, don’t you believe in science, don’t you believe in the vaccine?” the President said.

Bolsonaro extensively criticized vaccination of young people after reading a newspaper report about the Ministry’s backtracking. “I want to talk to Queiroga. I’m not going to disturb him now. If he is well tomorrow, I will talk to him,” he said.

He also cited a Federal Supreme Court (STF) decision granting mayors and governors autonomy to decide on vaccination, stating that “the mistake” is that “there is a missing commander who could enforce his authority.”

“I cannot assert my authority in the pandemic, it is governors and mayors who decide,” he complained.

“As far as I’m concerned, that’s irresponsible. That they didn’t consult ANVISA, they didn’t consult the Ministry of Health and they wanted to push the vaccine,” he said. “Why this interest in vaccinating the kids?”

Bolsonaro says he has been discussing with Queiroga the consequences for both of a potential occurrence of adverse effects of the vaccine in adolescents. “I have been discussing this with Queiroga. To approve the vaccine, there must be a proven trial in this respect,” he said.

“Because if kids start dying, if there is any problem, it will blow up in my face.” “What do you have to consider? It is the cost-benefit. Are you going to gamble R$10 to make R$5? It’s not worth it, you have to gamble R$5 to make R$10,” he said.

“I continue to defend freedom. You want to be vaccinated, you do it. If you don’t want to, you don’t.”

Next, Bolsonaro said that first lady Michelle decided to get vaccinated recently, when he traveled to the U.S. to attend the United Nations General Assembly.

“Look at what happened with my wife now in the U.S.. She asked me whether or not she should get the vaccine,” he said. “I offered my opinion. I’m not going to tell you what my opinion was, I’m going to tell you what she did. She took the vaccine. So she’s of age, she’s 39, she knows what she’s doing, and she took the vaccine.”

It is unclear whether vaccination occurred before or during the trip.

The President also said that he would have to discuss with Michelle the potential vaccination of their youngest daughter, 10-year-old Laura. “Now if Laura is to be vaccinated at the age of 10, then I will talk to her [Michelle], we will decide whether or not Laura will be vaccinated,” he said.

“Many young people are proud, they brag, showing off their vaccine cards. It’s become a brand name: I took Pfizer, I took AstraZeneca, I took Coronavac. This is happening,” he stated. “What is lacking is an authority to direct things.”