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Brazil's Jair Bolsonaro increasingly opposes compulsory vaccination, claiming to fight the lessening of civil rights for non-vaccinated people.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has threatened to veto a bill on COVID-19 passports, currently being debated in parliament.
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On Tuesday morning, June 15, he told supporters waiting for him outside the Alvorada Palace to veto the so-called "vaccine passport" bill for Covid-19 - the Certificate of Immunization and Health Security - should the bill be passed by Congress.
The draft legislation proposes a so-called certificate of immunization, which will allow vaccinated citizens access to various sports and cultural events, cruises, and national parks.
#Brazil After more than 12 months into Brazil’s COVID-19 emergency, there is still no effective, centralised and coordinated public health response from Bolsonaro to the outbreak
— MV English (@MV_Eng) June 12, 2021
The lack of political will to adequately respond to the pandemic is killing thousands of Brazilians pic.twitter.com/CzPKluFQBB
"I don't think [the law] will pass the Congress. If it passes, I will veto it," Bolsonaro said, as quoted by the O Globo newspaper.
The Senate approved the bill, the upper house, and it is currently being discussed in the Chamber of Deputies.
Bolsonaro has been repeatedly accused of downplaying the pandemic risks, as he has defied coronavirus restrictions. Even though he contracted the virus last summer, he has repeatedly voiced skepticism over COVID-19 vaccines and only recently changed his stance, given that Brazil has been among the world's leaders in terms of cumulative infections.
#FromTheSouth News Bit | In Brazil a parliamentary inquiry began on Tuesday into possible negligence and the use of federal funds by the government of Jair Bolsonaro in the context of the Covid-19 pandemic. pic.twitter.com/6gJVPAlGqf
— teleSUR English (@telesurenglish) April 28, 2021
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