Recife, Brazil
Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro, one of the world’s most skeptical world leaders about the novel coronavirus, confirmed on Wednesday that the ‘best vaccine’ against covid-19 is the virus itself, which already leaves nearly 190,000 dead in the country.
“I had the best vaccine: it was the virus. And with no side effect,” Bolsonaro, who contracted the coronavirus and has already recovered from the disease, told a group of followers, the vast majority without a mask, during his visit to the city of Sao Francisco do Sul, in the southern state of Santa Catarina, bordering Argentina.
As he did for the past few days, Bolsonaro again encountered followers without using any protective equipment and even stated that he “does not use” one of his followers.
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The president usually meets with his cabinet of ministers, takes part in public events and receives sympathizers outside the Palacio da Alvorada, the presidential residence in the capital Brasilia, without mask or social aloofness.
Since the start of the pandemic in Brazil last February, Bolsonaro has repeatedly minimized the impact of the coronavirus, which he came to call ‘minor flu’, though he acknowledged last week that there may have been ‘some exaggeration’.
The far-right leader also defended the use of treatments without scientific verification, such as hydroxychloroquine, and more recently opposed the mandatory nature of the covid vaccine, which was ultimately determined by the Supreme Court.
This week, Bolsonaro ironically criticized the vaccine from the Pfizer-BionTech consortium (United States-Germany), saying that the manufacturer had exempted itself from responsibility for the potential side effects of the antidote.
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“If you become an alligator, that’s your problem,” the head of state posted on his Twitter profile when commenting on Pfizer-BioNTech’s request to supply vaccines to the South American country, one of the most affected by the pandemic on the side of the United States and India.
According to the latest data from the Ministry of Health, Brazil has so far 189,220 deaths and about 7.4 million infected.