MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil: Governor of São Paulo tests positive for COVID-19 for the second time

“No matter what vaccine it is, they prevent the worsening of the disease, not the infection,” Doria said

João Doria, Governor of the Brazilian State of São Paulo, has tested yet again positive for Sars-CoV-2, despite having received both doses of the Coronavac immunizer, it was announced.

The 62-year-old Doria has been a strong promoter of vaccination in the country and is reportedly going to run for the presidency in the October 2022 elections.

“Today, for prevention, I performed a covid-19 test and the result, unfortunately, was positive; for medical guidance I immediately canceled the entire agenda and will work from home, fulfilling my commitments as governor, but virtually,” he explained through his Twitter account.

Coronavac has been developed by the Chinese laboratory Sinovac and is produced locally by the Butantan Institute, which belongs to the State of São Paulo.

Governor Doria insisted his case should remind people that they must follow safety protocols despite vaccines, because everyone can become infected and transmit the virus regardless of their immunization treatments.

“No matter what vaccine it is, they prevent the worsening of the disease, not the infection,” Doria said.

Doria is one of President Jair Bolsonaro's main political rivals from the conservative spectrum, but he too would lose to Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva, according to a recent Datafolha survey.

The announcement came at a time when Bolsonaro himself is hospitalized in the city of São Paulo for persistent hiccups and severe abdomen pain due to an obstruction caused by the wound he sustained in a knife attack while campaigning for the presidency back in 2018.