Roving Periscope: Brazil’s ‘Captain Corona’ refuses vaccination, says ‘it makes no sense!’
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Brazil in South America stands second only to the US in North America in terms of pandemic deaths. While the US has lost nearly 740,000 lives so far, Brazil is a close second with over 600,000 deaths. Throughout the Covid-19 years, — 2020 and 2021—Brazilians suffered their government’s erratic policies and behaviour, and the country came close to widespread riots last year, amid deaths, scarcities, fear and insecurity.
Despite this grim situation, its President Jair Bolsonaro, nicknamed “Captain Corona”, hit headlines not for providing leadership and a responsible government but for his erratic behaviour and uncalled for statements. Last year, he ridiculed the pandemic as a “little flu”; this year, he has stubbornly refused to take vaccine doses himself.
A Covid-19 sceptic, the right-wing leader had previously claimed the Pfizer vaccine could turn people into “crocodiles” because of secondary effects.
The science-defying President has now announced he will not get vaccinated, as “it makes no sense” for him.
Since contracting Covid-19 in July 2020, Bolsonaro repeatedly claimed that tests have shown he has many antibodies to fight the virus and thus needed no vaccination.
“Regarding the vaccine, I’ve decided not to have it anymore,” the 66-year-old populist told a right-wing radio station on Tuesday. “I’ve been looking at new studies… Why would I get vaccinated?”, the media reported him as saying.
He claimed his antibody levels were already “sky-high” because of a past infection. “It would be the same as betting 10 reais (£1.30) on the lottery to win two. It makes no sense.”
Bolsonaro said he was not anti-vaccination, but opposed what he called the vaccine-buying “frenzy”.
His comments caused widespread anger across Brazil, with many accusing him of trying to distract the people’s attention from nagging problems like rising hunger, poverty and inflation.
“It is a stupid and selfish decision because vaccination isn’t just about protecting yourself. Vaccination is about protecting those around you,” said Natália Pasternak, the head of a civil society group and a visiting scholar at Columbia University.
Bolsonaro’s claim that his supposedly high antibody levels rendered vaccination unnecessary was uninformed and fallacious, she said.
A recent study in the UK suggested the previous infection did not protect a person against Covid-19 in the longer term, especially when caused by new variants of concern.
As of now, over 72 percent of Brazilians (154 million people) got at least one shot and 47 percent have been fully vaccinated. Over 253 million doses have been administered, although Bolsonaro says he has not received one, despite being eligible since April 2021.
Pasternak said Brazilians are extremely pro-vaccine because of 30 or 40 years of a very active national immunisation programme that left them very comfortable and supportive of vaccination.
“But what Bolsonaro is doing could trigger an anti-vaccine sentiment in the future. Brazil could then find itself in the position the US or France were in 20 years ago when the anti-vaccination movement condemned America to the ridiculous situation of having an abundance of vaccines, yet seeing people refusing vaccination and dying.
Bolsonaro had earlier said he would be the “last Brazilian” to get vaccines. Now his refusal to get the jabs has generated controversy over his handling of the coronavirus pandemic and for initially downplaying the seriousness of the virus, despite catching it himself last year.
He has also strongly opposed the health passes, given to the vaccinated people, required by some large Brazilian cities in order to access certain public spaces.
“For me, freedom comes before everything else. If a citizen doesn’t want to get vaccinated, that’s his right, and that’s the end,” Bolsonaro said.
His refusal to get vaccinated has also solicited criticism from abroad, notably in September when he travelled to New York to address the UN General Assembly.
