Brazilian President Bolsonaro, Who Is Anti-vaccinated, Suddenly Wants His Citizens To Be Vaccinated

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro addresses reporters at the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia (Adriano / Reuters, Antara)

JAKARTA - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has shown a contradictory attitude. He, who is known to be anti-vaccine, wants his citizens to be vaccinated.

This is considered political. Bolsonaro is considered to be softening his attitude after support for him collapsed due to the failure of vaccine distribution.

Brazil is currently facing a violent second wave of COVID-19. Bolsonaro has drawn a lot of criticism regarding the handling of the pandemic.

Critics have called the slow launch of the vaccine the latest problem in a long series of missteps by Bolsonaro. Under Bolsonaro's leadership, COVID-19 devastated Brazil with the second highest death toll in the world after the United States.

However, on Thursday, January 28, Bolsonaro tried to defend his government's procurement of vaccines. "Europe and some countries in South America don't have a vaccine," Bolsonaro.

"And we know the demand for vaccines is high. We have signed agreements, contracts, since last September, with various companies, and vaccines are now starting to arrive," he added.

"The vaccine will arrive and be injected into the entire population in no time."

Bolsonaro's remarks reflect his more lenient stance in recent weeks. He began to respond to the many people who were furious at his failure to vaccinate Brazil's 210 million citizens.

Bolsonaro's attitude that he did not want to be vaccinated against anything sparked rampant anti-vaccine sentiment. The end of welfare assistance schemes related to COVID-19 and a drastic spike in new COVID-19 infections also undermined Bolsonaro's popularity.

Brazil relies heavily on procuring a vaccine from China, developed by Sinovac Biotech, but is also awaiting delivery of the active ingredient from China needed to produce AstraZeneca's vaccine domestically. In addition, Brazil has also received two million doses of AstraZeneca ready to use until distribution of the active ingredient arrives.