Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday he will not take a COVID-19 vaccine.
“I’m telling you, I’m not going to take it. It’s my right,” Bolsonaro said in a live broadcast streamed on multiple social media platforms.
The right-wing leader also said that Congress is unlikely to require Brazilians to get vaccinated.
Bolsonaro, an ardent supporter of President Trump, has repeatedly downplayed the seriousness of the coronavirus pandemic even though he contracted the bug over the summer.
He landed in hot water earlier this month for using a homophobic slur while complaining about his country’s deadly outbreak.
“But we’re all going to die someday. There’s no use fleeing reality. We have to stop being a country of f-gs… We have to face up to it and fight,” he said at the time.
Brazil has the second-highest number of coronavirus deaths in the world behind the US.
Bolsonaro on Thursday also questioned the effectiveness of wearing face coverings to curb the spread of COVID-19.
With Post Wires
