MercoPress, en Español

Montevideo, March 29th 2024 - 06:57 UTC

 

 

Brazilians march in Sao Paulo against the Chinese vaccine and mandatory immunization

Monday, November 2nd 2020 - 09:45 UTC
Full article 61 comments
The protestors in São Paulo rallied in support of Bolsonaro, with one demonstrator holding a sign saying “We are not guinea pigs” The protestors in São Paulo rallied in support of Bolsonaro, with one demonstrator holding a sign saying “We are not guinea pigs”
Sao Paulo governor Joao Doria has spoken in favor of making immunizations mandatory, once vaccines are available Sao Paulo governor Joao Doria has spoken in favor of making immunizations mandatory, once vaccines are available

More than 300 Brazilians gathered on São Paulo's main commercial thoroughfare on Sunday to protest state Governor João Doria's support for mandatory COVID-19 immunization and testing the potential vaccine developed by China's Sinovac.

Doria has previously spoken in favor of making immunizations mandatory, once vaccines are available, sparking a spat with President Jair Bolsonaro who vows it will be voluntary. The Supreme Court's chief justice has said the court will ultimately decide on the issue.

A number of vaccines are obligatory in Brazil, including for example Hepatitis B which is given to newborns. Brazil has had great success with large vaccination campaigns in the past, eradicating polio in the 1980s for example.

In São Paulo, the Sinovac vaccine is being tested as part of phase III clinical trials with support from the Doria government.

Brazil's federal health ministry announced last month it would buy 46 million doses of the vaccine, contingent on regulatory approval, in a deal supported by state governors. But a day later President Jair Bolsonaro said that Brazil would not buy the vaccine.

Bolsonaro has bashed China intermittently since the campaign trail in 2018, over the Asian countries growing investments and influence in Brazil.

The protestors in São Paulo rallied in support of Bolsonaro, with one demonstrator holding a sign saying “We are not guinea pigs” and another in a mask that said “no vaccine.” Many of the tightly packed protestors did not wear masks.

“We're against the authoritarian Chinese ambassador João Doria, who would now make the vaccine compulsory against our wishes,” protestor Andre Petros said. “This doesn't happen anywhere in the world, not even in China.”

Brazil has the third-worst outbreak of coronavirus globally, with 5.5 million cases, after the United States and India.

Top Comments

Disclaimer & comment rules
  • Pugol-H

    Chicureo-CMoTA

    I am reliably informed, working for a Scandinavian based company, that Denmark, Norway and Sweden (similar but not entirely inter miscible languages, the Danes think the other two can understand them, the others tell me that most of the time they can’t, have to use English) are Scandinavian, whereas those three plus Finland are Nordic.

    Finns being a completely unrelated people, culture and language, to the Scandinavian countries.

    Apparently, Icelandic is old Norwegian, Norwegian is old Swedish, Swedish is old Danish. The only language related to Finnish in Europe, is actually Hungarian.

    Nov 03rd, 2020 - 06:19 pm +2
  • Chicureo

    Jack

    Good to see your appearance. I hope all is well with you and your family.

    Pugol, DemonTree and I have been chatting on the “Polish women protest...” thread. (I've also been at the Argentine jet fighter thread as well.)

    This idea of all the restrictions being proposed reminds me of Orwell's 1984.

    I found out that I had the virus by accident and I wonder what percentage of the population is asymptomatic as well.

    Trump is winning the election — my wine hoard increases!

    ¡Saludos!

    Nov 02nd, 2020 - 06:49 pm +1
  • DemonTree

    Wow, thanks to the pandemic Brasileiro and Jack Bauer agree on something! We really do live in strange times.

    Nov 03rd, 2020 - 07:52 am +1
Read all comments

Commenting for this story is now closed.
If you have a Facebook account, become a fan and comment on our Facebook Page!