\n Brazil's health regulator said Friday it refused to bow to threats after President Jair Bolsonaro said he wanted the names revealed of those who approved Covid-19 vaccines for children, a remark agency employees called \"fascist.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n The latest row over the far-right president's controversial pandemic response erupted after federal health regulator Anvisa approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine Thursday for use in children aged five to 11, joining a growing list of countries extending vaccination to kids.\n<\/p>\n
\n Reacting to the announcement in his weekly Facebook live address to supporters, Bolsonaro said he wanted the names of those at the independent agency who made the decision.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"We want to publish those people's names,\" said the former army captain, who has refused to be vaccinated himself.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"You have the right to know the names of the people who approved the vaccine for your children.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n Responding to the president's comments, Anvisa said its officials have been receiving death threats since October over their role in evaluating and approving Covid-19 vaccines, and suggested Bolsonaro's words could add fuel to the fire.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"This agency has become a focus and target of violent political activism,\" it said in a statement.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"Anvisa vehemently repudiates and rejects any threat, explicit or veiled, aimed at constraining, intimidating or compromising its ability to ... protect citizens' health.\"\n<\/p>\n
\n An association representing employees of the health regulator, Univisa, also strongly condemned Bolsonaro's comments.\n<\/p>\n
\n \"It looks like a threat of retaliation that resorts to inciting private citizens, an openly fascist method whose results could prove tragic and violent,\" it said.\n<\/p>\n
\n Bolsonaro has repeatedly provoked controversy with his handling of the pandemic, from downplaying the virus as a \"little flu\" to flouting experts' recommendations on stay-at-home measures, face masks and vaccines.\n<\/p>\n
\n In October, a Senate investigative committee recommended he face criminal charges, including crimes against humanity, for his government's response to Covid-19, which has claimed more than 615,000 lives in Brazil, second only to the United States.\n<\/p>\n
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Brazil's health regulator said Friday it refused to bow to threats after President Jair Bolsonaro said he wanted the names revealed of those who approved Covid-19 vaccines for children, a remark agency employees called \"fascist.\" The latest row over the far-right president's controversial pandemic response erupted after federal health regulator Anvisa approved the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":60,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[553],"tags":[],"ji_location":[],"class_list":["post-85718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-live-feed"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n