President Bolsonaro: Brazilians Will Not Be Guinea Pigs For Chinese Vaccines

Presiden Brasil Jair Bolsonaro (Instagram / @ jairmessiasbolsonaro)

JAKARTA - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has refused to buy 46 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine made in China. Bolsonaro said he would not let his citizens become guinea pigs.

"The Brazilian is not going to be anyone's guinea pig," said Bolsonaro, quoted by CNA, Thursday, October 22.

Bolsonaro expressed his refusal to respond to the steps of Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello and Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria who purchased the Sinovac vaccine from China. Both are reportedly going to pour out 360 million US dollars - equivalent to Rp5 trillion - to bring in all the doses.

Bolsonaro also said the vaccine made by the Chinese pharmaceutical company had not yet completed its testing phase. For this reason, Bolsonaro remains in his decision to refuse and not buy the vaccine.

In line with Bolsonaro. Brazilian palemen member Bia Kicis said the Brazilian government would not buy a single dose of vaccine made in China. "I warned that we would not buy a single dose of vaccine from China," he said.

"And my government does not defend anything. And the government will open a dialogue with João Doria on the COVID-19 issue," said Kicis.

Previously, Bolsonaro and Doria had been rivals since the COIVD-19 pandemic began to break out in Brazil. In contrast to Bolsonaro, Doria actually implemented whatever was warned by world health experts to curb the spread of COVID-19.

The move was what angered Bolsonaro. Because, with the key action Doria carried out at the start of the pandemic, the Brazilian economy reached a low point that made the economic downturn more dangerous than COVID-19.

This harsh attitude Bolsonaro doesn't show for other vaccines. In June, the Brazilian government announced an agreement with the University of Oxford to purchase one hundred million doses of AstraZeneca's COVID-19 vaccine.

However, Bolsonaro will not force his people to be vaccinated. So far Brazil has confirmed 5,298,772 cases of COVID-19 transmission. Among them, there were 155,403 cases died.