The STF (Supreme Federal Court) formed a majority to establish that Brazilian residents who leave the country as of this Wednesday (15th) may return if they can prove that they took the immunizing agent against Covid-19, or if they had a five-day quarantine and have a negative test.
Thus, the decision leaves room for residents who leave the country from this Wednesday to return even without proof of immunization.
Ministers Edson Fachin, Carmen Lúcia, Alexandre de Moraes, Rosa Weber and Luiz Fux voted to follow Barroso’s vote.
The trial takes place in the virtual plenary and the other magistrates have until Thursday (16) to include their votes in the system.
The Supreme Court’s manifestation also allows the entry, without vaccine, of those who cannot receive the doses for medical reasons, children under 12 years of age and those arriving from countries without available immunization agents.
With the decision, the government will have to redo the ordinance with rules on border control. But Barroso’s demonstrations, accompanied by his colleagues at the court, left doubts about how to collect and inspect proof of vaccination, and what are the possible ways to bar the entry of a resident in Brazil.
The proposal to insert the vaccination certificate into border control, presented by Anvisa on November 12, was ignored for almost a month by the government, blocked by the denial speech of President Jair Bolsonaro (PL).​
Cornered by questions in the STF and recommendation by the TCU (Court of Accounts of the Union), the government accepted part of Anvisa’s recommendations in an ordinance published last week. It decided to release, at airports, the entry of all non-vaccinated people who fulfilled isolation and presented a negative test, as proposed by the agency.
Planalto, however, wanted to allow travelers to cross the border by land only with the negative test in hand, while the agency demanded to bar those who were not immunized.
The government ordinance already provided for, but Barroso reinforced, in a statement, that the airline must charge before boarding the vaccine certificate, the result of the Covid-19 test and the DSV (Traveller’s Health Declaration).
This note from the minister also increased doubts in the government, as it was read as a sign that even residents would have to be barred if they were not vaccinated.
By land, the negative test and proof of immunization are handed over to health or immigration authorities.
In general, government and agency technicians believe that the possibility of replacing the vaccination certificate with the quarantine and test is aimed at the air mode, where it is easier to accompany the traveler.
On the fifth day of isolation, the traveler must take a new Covid-19 exam. If the result is negative, you are free to circulate in Brazil, otherwise you have to complete the 14-day quarantine cycle.
In the first monocratic decision in the case, on the 11th, Barroso only established that a Brazilian resident could only return to the country upon proof that he had been vaccinated against Covid-19. The measure provided for exemption from the rule for those who presented medical reasons against indicating immunization, or for those who came from countries that do not have vaccines available.
In the second decision, on the 14th of this month, he decided that the vaccination passport requirement was only valid for people who leave the country from this Wednesday (15th) onwards.
In both court orders, the minister did not mention the hypothesis of quarantine and testing as an alternative to the vaccination passport for residents.
In the virtual judgment in which the court is discussing the referendum of the decision of the rapporteur, however, Barroso began to provide for the possibility of quarantine and double testing to authorize entry into the country.
In a note sent to the reporter, the minister said that this part of the vote only serves to clarify that the country’s residents cannot be banned from entering Brazil.
“To avoid misinterpretations in the sense that the STF would prohibit the entry of Brazilians without vaccination into the country, the minister added to the vote he sent to the referendum in the virtual plenary, to make it clear that Brazilians and foreigners residing in the country without proof could not be banned or banned from returning home,” he said.
The country is a signatory to the American Convention on Human Rights, of the OAS (Organization of American States), that “no one may be expelled from the territory of the State of which he is a national, nor be deprived of the right to enter it”.
In the vote, which was already followed by colleagues, the minister adds the new rule:
“Nevertheless, in order not to peremptorily prevent the re-entry of Brazilians or foreigners residing in the country, in case of failure to show proof of vaccination, the following shall be required: (i) presentation of a document evidencing the performance of a PCR test or another accepted for detection of Covid-19, as well as (ii) quarantine that will only end, with a new negative test, pursuant to article 4, of Interministerial Ordinance No. 661/2021”.
The ordinance to which he refers is the one published by the federal government last week, after the recommendation of Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) for the country to adopt proof of vaccination.
The minister also says that it is up to the health authorities to regulate the monitoring and inspection of the measures.
The entry of unvaccinated Brazilians into Brazil was the main point of contention between the Palácio do Planalto and the Supreme Court.
Assistants to the president complained about the first version of Barroso, and believed that it was a way to prevent Jair Bolsonaro (PL) from traveling or to force him to get vaccinated, because otherwise, he would not be able to enter Brazil.
In the way he responded to inquiries from the AGU (Attorney General’s Office) on Tuesday night, the minister did not discuss how to proceed in the case of citizens who left Brazil after December 14 and who had no way of proving their vaccination – either because they weren’t vaccinated, or because they weren’t able to download proof from ConectSUS that remains down.
“I make it clear that Brazilians and foreigners residing in Brazil, over 12 years of age, who leave the country after the date of this decision, upon return must present proof of vaccination, along with the rest of the required documentation”, says the minister’s decision.
He himself called the measure an inducer of vaccination, to “prevent that the risk of contamination of the people who live here increases in the return”.
Afterwards, Barroso only mentions the case of those who do not have proof of the vaccine and have already been infected with the coronavirus. “There is no scientific basis for such an exception.”
The president is a great proponent of this thesis. Bolsonaro always says that vaccinating is a personal matter, and that he himself would have enough antibodies to protect himself from possible new contamination, as he already had coronavirus.
However, studies already prove that it is possible to become infected more than once with Covid-19, and that the vaccine is not intended to prevent this. The main purpose of immunization agents is to prevent the disease from developing in people seriously.
In a hearing at the Chamber of Deputies this Wednesday (15), the director of Anvisa Meiruze Souza said that the agency complies with Barroso’s transitory decision and that it expects the elaboration of an ordinance by the government to improve inspection.
“Anvisa awaits the publication of the ordinance by the Ministry of Health, the Civil House, the Ministry of Justice and Infrastructure. This ordinance will clarify and bring the best work scenario for Anvisa, but we are already acting”, he commented.
The agency’s president, Antonio Barra Torres, who was also at the Chamber, said that he follows the judgment of the vaccine passport at the STF. According to him, the decisions of the ministers, so far, coincide with the technical notes issued by the organ.
“As the conclusion of the Federal Supreme Court takes shape in the collegiate body of the Supreme Court, we are increasingly identifying points in common with the technical notes from Anvisa that were sent to the four ministries, which also privilege, contemplate, mark the vaccine axis as the main measure of the Covid-19’s confrontation,” he stated.
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