Brazil is adding vaccinations against COVID-19 to the list of required immunizations for children.
The country’s Ministry of Health made the
announcement on Oct. 31.
“For all children born or living in Brazil, aged between 6 months and under 5 years, the vaccine becomes mandatory in the vaccine calendar,” said Ethel Maciel, secretary of health and environmental surveillance.
“It is an important change, in line with the World Health Organization (WHO), in which the vaccine against covid-19 [is now incorporated into] our National Immunization Program,” Maciel said.
Each child will be vaccinated once a year.
In February, Brazil’s leftist President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva said benefits from the country’s Bolsa Família welfare program would only be paid out to families whose children have received the required
vaccines.
“The children have to be vaccinated. Suppose they don’t have a vaccination certificate. In that case, the mother will lose the benefit,” Lula said, according to
The Rio Times.
The president said the vaccination policy is “a question of science.”
“If there are 10 COVID vaccines, 50 to take, I will take as many as necessary because I like my life. I think everyone has a duty to their children’s life,” he said.
Dr. Simon Goddek — a resident of Brazil, according to
LifeSite News — criticized the new vaccination rule and said the consequences of violating it are “severe.”
“Families not complying face hefty fines, loss of social aids like ‘Bolsa Família’, or worse, having their children taken away,” he wrote in a
post on X.
“Shockingly, the iron grip tightens further as a recent government notice now threatens legal action against anyone daring to question the National ‘Immunization’ Program,” Goddek wrote.
Goddek said the vaccine policy and an ongoing effort to
silence critics are “the hallmark of authoritarian communist regimes.”
“While voicing the full extent of my concerns could land me behind bars in Brazil, it’s clear that politicians like Lula prioritize lining their pockets over safeguarding our young ones,” he said.
This article appeared originally on
The Western Journal.
