There Is No Obligation For Vaccines In Brazil Even Though The Government Has Budgeted 384 Million Dollars

JAKARTA - The attitude of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro took the COVID-19 pandemic lightly. In his most recent speech, Bolsonaro has announced to the public that his policies will not force anyone to get a vaccine for COVID-19 against the pandemic.

"Nobody can force anyone to get the vaccine," said Bolsonaro, quoted by Reuters on Tuesday, September 1.

The comments were revealed by Bolsonaro in line with the allocation of millions of dollars in funds prepared by the government to purchase and produce vaccines in the future. Even so, as Bolsonaro said, the government will not force people to vaccinate even though Brazil has become one of the countries worst hit by the COVID-19 storm.

The funds allocated are reportedly around 348 million dollars or the equivalent of Rp. 5 trillion to fund 100 million doses of vaccine. The vaccine is currently being developed by the University of Oxford and AstraZeneca. This was done so that later the COVID-19 vaccine will be produced in Brazil.

Not only that. The Sao Paulo State government is also working on a potential vaccine collaboration with China's Sinovac Biotech. This cooperation is carried out in order to curb the spread of COVID-19.

Brazil is planned to get the distribution of the second dose of the vaccine early next year. However, Bolsonaro, who is known to have just recovered from COVID-19, has consistently underestimated the presence of COVID-19.

He did not hesitate to juxtapose COVID-19 as a mild flu. That is what makes him tend to ignore all scientific recommendations regarding the prevention of COVID-19 and oppose the regional lockdown efforts by the governor and mayor of Brazil.

So far Brazil has confirmed 3,908,272 cases of COVID-19 transmission. Among them, 121,381 cases died.