Vaccine May Not Be Compulsory, But Those Not Immunized May Face Restrictions

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Chamber of Deputies president Rodrigo Maia has proposed that Congress and the federal government jointly build a legal proposal establishing restrictions on those who refuse to take the vaccine against Covid-19 that may be approved by the National Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA).

“I think it would be good for the Executive and Legislative branches to reach a compromise on this issue. So that it will not go unresolved and force the Judiciary to decide it, and then everyone will complain that the Judiciary has solved it”, declared Maia when taking part in a live stream organized by Valor newspaper on November 2nd.

Maia did not favor the obligation but said it is possible to devise measures to discourage people from not taking the vaccine that may be approved by ANVISA. “This debate on compulsion must be carefully handled. There are some ways in which compulsion is not required, but access to some public facilities may be restricted,” said Maia, mentioning the example of countries that ban non-vaccinated children from attending schools.

The Chamber president argued that ANVISA and Brazilian research institutes are capable of attesting to the safety of a future vaccine. Underlining the value of more than one vaccine that meets safety requirements being allowed to be marketed in Brazil, the deputy commented on the controversy surrounding the CoronaVac, one of the experimental drugs in its trial phase, produced by the Chinese Sinovac laboratory in partnership with the Butantan Institute.

“Once ANVISA approves a vaccine, it will no longer be A or B. It will be a vaccine authorized by the competent Brazilian agency and guaranteed to immunize everyone. It is important to have two or three approved vaccines. And all of them will contain, to some degree, Chinese raw materials.”

Maia added, “Much of the products and equipment used in the fight against Covid-19 were imported from China and no one stopped using them. Imagine if we were to veto products from China in other economic sectors. What would we do about our cell phones? And what would happen to our economy if we were forbidden to export to China?”

Economy

Maia again said that until he leaves the Chamber presidency on February 1st, 2021, the Chamber of Deputies will not vote on any potential proposal to extend the state of calamity because of Covid-19, or to extend the emergency aid paid to those financially affected by the pandemic.

“Neither of these two issues will be considered in the Chamber. The government should forget this”, declared Maia, claiming that the approval of these measures would lead to a “deep economic and social crisis in the country”.

The deputy also opposed the extension of the so-called War Budget, an extraordinary fiscal, financial, and contracting regime to tackle the calamity situation. “There will be no extension of the Constitutional Amendment of war, and under no circumstances will there be a vote on any message extending the state of calamity.”

Maia also reiterated that Congress is firmly committed to the need to pass a Tax Reform. According to him, only an agreement with the federal government is lacking for the topic to be voted on.

“The only thing that remains to be organized is the text [of the proposal] with the government. Minister [of Economy] Paulo Guedes sometimes questions whether we want a fund that will take money from the federal government to repair eventual losses of states and municipalities, but we have an agreement with the Minister: we will jointly draft the wording on the operation of the fund,” Maia said.

Source: Exame