"I Didn't Come Here to Be Bored": Brazil President Jair Bolsonaro Snaps at Reporter When Asked About COVID Death Toll

Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro has said that he did not want to be "bored" with questions regarding the COVID death toll in the country after Brazil became the second country in the world to surpass the 600,000-death count.

Bolsonaro was at the beach in Guaruja with his supporters on Monday when a journalist asked him about the country's current COVID death toll, according to an Aljazeera report.

Brazil's far-right president has responded by asking in which country did people not die due to the pandemic. He then added that he did not come to the place "to be bored."

The country's health ministry had announced that Brazil had passed the 600,000 death threshold for COVID, which had caused more public anger against Bolsonaro's COVID response.

Testing Unproven Drugs

Whistleblowing doctors had testified in front of the country's Senate stating that Prevent Senior had enlisted participants to test unproven drugs without proper consent. The hospital was also accused of forcing doctors to cross the line on prescribing unproven drugs touted by Bolsonaro as part of a COVID kit, according to an NBC News report.

Some senators have also claimed that Prevent Senior had falsified death certificates to alter the cause of death of the patients.

Authorities had also launched an investigation to look at the complaints that the company had done research without proper permission.

Meanwhile, Prevent Senior had denied all wrongdoing, irregularities at its facilities, or having done any unapproved trials. The hospital chain added that all of its patients or family members had consented before receiving the treatment.

Pedro Batista Júnior, Prevent Senior's executive director, had also testified to senators two weeks ago. He noted that doctors were free to make their own prescriptions for the treatment of COVID.

Júnior said that patients had freely agreed to take their COVID kits. He added that patients and family members had consented before receiving treatment. However, he did not say how many patients had received the COVID kits.

Bolsonaro's COVID response

Protests have erupted across Brazil, with people clamoring over the management of the COVID pandemic by Bolsonaro's government. Demonstrations had happened in major cities, such as Rio de Janeiro.

Bolsonaro's popularity had also crashed over his response to the pandemic, according to another BBC News report in May.

Opposition parties, trade unions, and social movements had accused Bolsonaro of stalling the COVID vaccine program and disregarding the consequences of his decision.

The head of Brazil's Butantan Institute earlier told the Senate committee that the Brazilian president delayed the start of the COVID vaccine program. Butantan had offered to supply the government with 100 million doses of the CoronaVac vaccine in August last year, according to Dr. Dimas Covas.

Covas said that Bolsonaro vowed that his government would "never" buy a Chinese vaccine. Covas told the committee that Brazil could have been the first country in the world to vaccinate its citizens had Bolsonaro accepted the offer.

The head of the institute said Butantan would have been able to deliver 100 million doses by the end of March this year.

This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Mary Webber

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