MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Brazil: Rio de Janeiro City Hall to require vaccine passports for public spaces starting next month

“It is not possible that people who do not get vaccinated want to have a normal life; they will not have it,” warned Paes.

The City Hall of Rio de Janeiro Friday announced that effective September 1, a COVID-19 vaccination passport will be required for customers to be allowed to enter cinemas, theatres, museums, stadiums, amusement parks and gyms.

Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes explained the city's flexibility plans were postponed due to the Delta variant. He added the new measure was “a preparation” for when the pandemic allows a gradual or full reopening.

Similar measures have been decreed in São Paulo, although the specifics are yet to be released.

Paes also explained that for the time being, documents attesting to the bearer's having taken the first dose will be accepted.

“If everyone is vaccinated, we will get out faster. We will not be able to inspect all the places, so we ask the owners of the spaces to inspect so that everything quickly returns to normal,” the mayor pointed out. “It is not possible that people who do not get vaccinated want to have a normal life; they will not have it,” warned Paes.

Proof of vaccination will be mandatory in gyms, swimming pools, social clubs, stadiums, cinemas, theatres, concert halls, samba rounds, circuses and children's recreation spaces, as well as museums, galleries, exhibitions, amusement parks, conferences, conventions and trade shows, Rio's City Hall detailed.

Municipal Decrees 49331 and 49,334 published Friday indicate that the “passport” must state the application of the first or second dose of vaccines against COVID-19 and that it will also be required for people to undergo surgeries.

Brazil's federal government considers vaccination not mandatory in a country that is the second in deaths behind the United States and the third in cases after the United States and India.

Rio de Janeiro has already started the vaccination of patients aged between 12 and 17 years old in a city where one out of every two newly infected patients was contaminated with the Delta strain.

Intensive Care Units (ICUs) were reported to be 90% full Friday at the country's former capital.