São Paulo bans vaccine passports, but most people are fully vaccinated anyway

Photo: Rafapress/Shutterstock

São Paulo Governor Tarcísio de Freitas enacted a law this week banning Covid vaccine passport requirements to enter private and public spaces. The law came into force on Wednesday.

The bill was originally drafted in late 2021 by a group of far-right, pro-Bolsonaro state lawmakers, including Janaina Paschoal, who lost a bid for the Senate. It was only taken to a vote last December, during a throwaway post-election session.

Mr. Freitas vetoed most of the bill’s original provisions. The proposal’s authors included language that expressly banned requirements for Covid vaccine passports for hospital treatments, public employees, and in schools.

The original bill stated that it would be up to families to define whether or not their children would get Covid vaccines. However, childhood vaccines in Brazil are constitutionally mandatory, and the Supreme Court has ruled on this matter in the past. Governor Freitas also vetoed the bill’s provisions regarding children.

According to official data, 43 million people have taken a first shot of Covid vaccine in São Paulo, the equivalent to 92 percent of the state’s population. However, the figures could also include those who reside in other states and countries and received vaccination in São Paulo. Roughly 40 million people took second vaccine shots.

Per official data, only 5.7 percent of the eligible population missed their second shot, one-quarter missed their first booster, and 30 percent missed the second booster.

Therefore, the overwhelming majority of the population is fully vaccinated, rendering both vaccine passports and their banning less of a consequential issue, and more of an opportunity for ideological point-scoring.

On Twitter, Mr. Freitas said: “I took the vaccine, I defend its importance, and I also defend freedom.”