Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has given a bizarre statement about coronavirus vaccines. He said that the vaccine developed by Pfizer-BioNTech could turn people into crocodiles or bearded ladies.
The Brazilian leader said he would not get himself vaccinated, even while his country is launching mass innoculation program.
"In the Pfizer contract it's very clear: 'we're not responsible for any side effects.' If you turn into a crocodile, it's your problem," Bolsonaro said on Thursday."If you become superhuman, if a woman starts to grow a beard or if a man starts to speak with an effeminate voice, they will not have anything to do with it," he said, referring to the drug manufacturers.
Bolsonaro said that once a vaccine has been certified by Brazil's regulatory agency Anvisa, "it will be available for everyone that wants it. But me, I won't get vaccinated."
"Some people say I'm giving a bad example. But to the imbeciles, to the idiots that say this, I tell them I've already caught the virus, I have the antibodies, so why get vaccinated?"
Bolsonaro caught the virus in July but recovered within three weeks. Brazil has recorded more than 7.1 million cases and almost 185,000 deaths from Covid-19 amongst its 212 million population.