Coronavirus

Brazilian House to impose vaccine mandate for return of in-person sittings

vaccine mandates Speaker Arthur Lira. Photo: J. Batista/Shutterstock
Speaker Arthur Lira. Photo: Zeca Ribeiro/CD

Speaker Arthur Lira announced on Tuesday that the Brazilian lower house will once again hold exclusively in-person sittings as of October 25, which had been halted or reduced due to the pandemic. “The House executive board decided that in-person work will return,” he tweeted. “All administrative and sanitary measures will be respected — among them the necessity for people to show proof of vaccination.” He failed to provide any further detail on how vaccine mandates will be enforced. 

Since last year, the House has restricted access to its premises and the lower house floor, and in February created a hybrid voting system using an app — allowing lawmakers to vote on issues remotely. That system has raised much controversy, with suspicions that congressmen were asking aides to vote in their place.