Minister Luís Roberto Barroso, of the Federal Supreme Court, determined that the passport for the Covid-19 vaccine is mandatory for all travelers traveling to Brazil from abroad. Passengers who have medical reasons and also those who come from a country where there is provenly no vaccine available or for exceptional humanitarian reasons will not be required to present the document.
The Bolsonaro government had determined that travelers coming from abroad would have to serve five days of quarantine if they did not present proof of vaccination.
For the magistrate, negative Covid test or quarantine cannot be options for the vaccine passport, as it could hardly be controlled.
According to the minister, allowing the free option for quarantine “creates a situation of absolute lack of control and the consequent ineffectiveness of the norm”.
In the decision, Barroso understood that there is urgency for the issue due to the increase in travel in the coming period and the risk of Brazil becoming an anti-vaccine destination.
From now on, transport companies, land or air, and the bodies that oversee the entry of travelers into the country will have to demand the document, as already happens with the Covid-19 test: every passenger must submit a negative test for the illness before leaving for Brazil.
Barroso took the decision by granting a partial injunction requested by the Rede Sustentabilidade party. In action, the Network asked the federal government to adopt measures recommended by Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) to enter the country in order to contain the spread of Covid-19.
The minister will ask that the decision be sent to a referendum in an extraordinary session of the Court’s Virtual Plenary.
“The daily entry of thousands of travelers into the country, the approach of the end of the year festivities, pre-Carnival events and the carnival itself, capable of attracting large numbers of tourists, and the threat of promoting anti-vaccine tourism, given the imprecision of the rules that demand its proof, configure an unequivocal imminent risk, which authorizes the granting of the injunction”, writes Barroso in the decision.
President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) declared on the 5th that he would seek to change the legislation so that only the federal government can determine rules on the vaccination passport.
His criticisms of the vaccine passport requirement, for travelers or in the context of state governments and companies, have been recurrent.
Last week he said he did not get the vaccine 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 take the vaccine. Will someone fire me because of this? Oh, I’m a terrible example. Look, this is called freedom,” he said, in an interview with Poder360.
On Monday (6), Barroso had given 48 hours for the federal government to explain why proof of vaccination is not required for people arriving in Brazil by air.
The magistrate mentioned a request by Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) in this regard and cited the Executive’s “inertia” in updating the ordinance that deals with entry into the country.
In the decision, he cited the emergence of omicron, a new variant of the disease that represents a very high risk, according to the WHO (World Health Organization).
This Saturday (11), the state of São Paulo confirmed the fourth case of an omicron variant of the new coronavirus. The infected person is a 67-year-old man from the city of São Paulo, who has not traveled abroad, unlike in previous cases, involving people from Africa.
with MOSQUE LEG, VICTORIA AZEVEDO, BIANKA VIEIRA e MANOELLA SMITH
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