Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro on Thursday said that he will not take the COVID-19 vaccine. He said, “I’m telling you, I’m not going to take it. It’s my right.”
As reported by Reuters, Bolsonaro made this statement that was broadcasted live across multiple social media platforms.
He also remained skeptical of the effectiveness of wearing a mask and said that there was no concrete evidence to prove the effectiveness of a mask.
He also reiteriated that Brazilians will not be required to take a vaccine shot as and when the vaccine is made available.
One should also note that in October, he had said on Twitter that vaccination was for needed only for his dog.
Well, his statement comes as the Latin American country witnessed a rise in both categories in November, accompanied by an increase in hospital occupancy in large cities.
The Brazilian Ministry of Health on Thursday reported 37,614 new COVID-19 cases with 691 more deaths, raising the national count to 6,204,220 with 171,460 deaths.
Brazil has the world's second-highest COVID-19 death toll, after the United States, and the third-largest caseload, next to the United States and India.
Notably, Bolsonaro, along with US President Donald Trump for the longest time did not believe that the coronavirus pandemic was not such a big threat. Violating all social distancing norms, Bolsonaro attended public rallies without wearing a mask, and was even caught jet skiing on a day Brazil announced its single highest fatality rate.
Now, netizens have slammed Bolsonaro for his statement. They pointed out that by not wearing a mask, he is not only putting his life at risk but also others around him.
He's even being compared to Trump who refuses to wear a mask. And now, a Twitter user said that "Brazil should do an America and get rid of this one."
Check out reactions here:
Healthcare records and personal information of 16 million Covid-19 patients in Brazil were found exposed online, according to media reports.
The treasure trove of data got leaked after a hospital employee uploaded on open source code repository GitHub a spreadsheet containing key information such as usernames, passwords, and access keys to sensitive government systems, ZDNet reported on Thursday.
Among those affected by the leak are Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro, seven government ministers, and the governors of 17 Brazilian states, said the report.
Besides names of patients, addresses and ID information, the exposed database also contained sensitive healthcare records including medical history and medication regimes.
The data was secured after a GitHub user found the spreadsheet with the passwords.
The document was spotted on the personal GitHub account of a person working with Albert Einstein Hospital in Sao Paulo.
Following the discovery of the exposed data, the user alerted Brazilian newspaper Estadao, which in turn notified the hospital and the Brazilian Ministry of Health after analysing the data, said the ZDNet report.
(With inputs from Agencies)
