Bolsonaro says he will change the law for the government to decide on the vaccine’s passport

President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) again defended this Sunday (5) the non-mandatory of vaccines against Covid-19, harshly questioned their effectiveness and said he will seek to change the legislation so that only the federal government can determine rules on the vaccination passport.

“I can’t understand how there are fellow journalists who don’t pay attention. There’s pressure for the vaccination passport. I ask: who takes the vaccine does it contract the virus? Yes. It transmits? Yes. Can you die from Covid? Yes. something is wrong in this whole story and you have no space to discuss absolutely anything else,” said the president, in an interview with Poder360.

The president followed this Sunday the final of the veterans football championship of a club in Brasília. It was said that his father-in-law should play the game. The press was prevented from entering the site.

Bolsonaro criticized the implementation of the vaccination passport and the consequences for those who do not want to be immunized. He cited himself as an example, that he was not vaccinated, and challenged anyone who wants to fire him for that reason.

“Today they want to impose something that some do not want. For example: I didn’t get the vaccine. Will someone fire me for that? Oh, I’m a terrible example. Look, this is called freedom,” he said.

The president also repeated the claim that people who were infected are more immune to the new coronavirus than those who get vaccinated. And he also said he was against the immunization of children and adolescents, arguing that there is still no scientific proof. Bolsonaro also raised doubts about the effectiveness of vaccines and said that no one knows the validity of vaccines in organisms and that this “opens a loophole for lobbying”.

The president also stated that he will veto any type of initiative that makes the presentation of the so-called vaccine passport mandatory.

The Bolsonaro government, in turn, has been taking several measures to seek to protect people who do not want to get vaccinated. A Ministry of Labor ordinance published in November sought to prevent the dismissal or even the non-hiring of workers who do not have a vaccination passport. The measure was partially reversed by the Supreme Court.

The Special Secretariat for Culture also published an ordinance that imposed a veto against the requirement of a vaccination passport in cultural events that are financed through the Rouanet Law.

“There is no doubt that I veto [se algum órgão determinar o passaporte vacinal]. Do you want a better vaccine, scientifically proven, than the contamination itself? Those who were infected are dozens of times more immune than those who took the vaccine alone,” said the president.

Bolsonaro then stated that he will modify the current legislation on measures to fight the pandemic, so that only the federal government can determine rules on mandatory vaccinations and the requirement for a vaccination passport.

“There are some items [na lei] which speak of the measures to be adopted by any health agent, State and municipality. I want to bring it to a federal agent,” he said in an interview with Poder360 portal. “The idea is that part of our government [as diretrizes]”, completed.

Bolsonaro was referring to the 2020 legislation that provides for measures to fight the pandemic, which was the subject of a dispute between Bolsonaro and other federated entities. Supreme Court decision established concurrent competence between the Union, states and municipalities.

“In that 2020 law, I want to change it. It was from February 2020. There was no mention of a vaccine yet. It was a law very focused on the pandemic, others, so it was new. And it says there that the vaccine is mandatory. it has to have scientific proof. And it doesn’t. There’s still a lot of unknowns about the vaccine, a lot that nobody knows,” he said.

“For me, the vaccine is optional. I could, as I can nowadays, go for a mandatory vaccination, but I would never do that because, even though you don’t believe it, I defend the truth and democracy. Now, it can’t do. for mayors and governors this freedom. I know that the majority is not adopting this, but there are some who are already threatening, threatening dismissal,” added the president.

The vaccine passport could be the first point of disagreement between Bolsonaro and his new party, the PL. The leader of the Senate party, Carlos Portinho (PL-RJ), this week, defended the measure in plenary.