Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro says that he intends to reveal the identities of the officials who authorized the covid jabs for children, even though they had previously received death threats.
Brazil’s health regulator approved the Pfizer-BioNTech covid injection on Thursday for use in children aged five to 11. On the same day, Bolsonaro requested the names of the specific officials who had approved the jabs for younger children, which he said he planned to make public
RT reports: In October, the country’s health regulator, Anvisa, said its five directors had received emails threatening them with death if Covid-19 vaccines for children aged five to 11 were approved. Anvisa underlined that “given the seriousness of the fact,” it immediately notified the police and the government, asking them “to adopt the appropriate measures.”
On Thursday, the same day that the regulator approved Pfizer’s shot for young children, Bolsonaro, known for his consistent opposition to anti-Covid measures, said the public should know who made the decision.
Noting that Anvisa is not subordinate to him, he claimed, “We want to publicize these people’s names so that everyone knows who these people are and, of course, forms their own judgment.”
“You have the right to know the names of people who have approved the vaccination from five years old for your child,” he said during a live broadcast on social media.
There has been no reaction from Anvisa so far.