Majority thinks Bolsonaro interferes with vaccination of children, shows Datafolha

The resistance of Jair Bolsonaro (PL) in relation to vaccination against Covid-19 for children between 5 and 11 years old is reflected in the opinion of Brazilians about the president’s performance at this stage of the immunization campaign.

A Datafolha survey shows that 58% of Brazilians aged 16 and over think that the president is more of a hindrance than a help when it comes to vaccinating children. The percentage is equivalent to 97.3 million people.

For 25% (almost 42 million people, according to the projection), Bolsonaro helps more in this matter than hinders; 14% said they did not know the answer; another 2% were neutral, stating that it neither helps nor hinders in this matter.

The survey was carried out by telephone between January 12 and 13, with 2,023 people aged 16 or over, in all regions and states of the country. The margin of error is plus or minus two percentage points.

Men are the majority, 32%, in the belief that Bolsonaro helps rather than hinders, while women lead when the opinion is contrary, that he hinders: 61%.

Among those who believe that Bolsonaro helps the most, 30% are between 45 and 59 years old, 28% have studied up to high school, 32% have a monthly family income of more than ten minimum wages and 36% are evangelicals.

In the group that sees the representative as someone who hinders vaccination, the percentages are high, for example, among those aged 60 or over (64%), higher education (66%) and an income of more than two to five salaries minimum (61%).

The fear of the disease is also greater in those who see Bolsonaro as someone who gets in the way of vaccination: 66% are very afraid of being infected by the coronavirus.

In the cut by regions, in the South, 33% see that Bolsonaro helps in the vaccination of children; in the Southeast the percentage drops to 22%.

In recent weeks, despite Anvisa’s approval of the Pfizer immunizer, Bolsonaro has collected episodes in which he criticized or raised doubts about the safety of vaccinating children aged 5 to 11 years against Covid-19.

At the end of December, for example, he stated that he would not vaccinate his daughter Laura, 11, on the grounds that “the vaccine for children is still very incipient, the world has a lot of doubts”.