Brazilian President Jail Bolsonaro: Hastening To Get COVID-19 Vaccine Not Allowed

JAKART - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who refused to accept the coronavirus vaccine, considered the world's tendency to vaccinate immediately unjustified because, in his view, the pandemic was coming to an end.

The new COVID-19 cases have not indicated the pandemic will end. In recent days, several countries, including Brazil, have reported record numbers of daily cases.

"The pandemic has really reached its end, the numbers have shown this, we are facing a small increase right now," Bolsonaro said as quoted by Reuters on Sunday, December 20.

"But rushing to get a vaccine is not justified because you are putting people's lives at risk," he said.

Bolsonaro has been widely criticized for downplaying COVID-19. He called the illness caused by the virus a "mild flu", even though Brazil is one of the countries hardest hit by the coronavirus.

On Saturday, December 19, Brazil registered 50,177 new cases of the coronavirus, bringing the total to 7,213,155. Deaths increased by 706 to 186,356 people.