Facebook takes down video where Bolsonaro links COVID-19 shot to Aids
Facebook took down the live broadcast in which Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro makes a statement about a supposed linked between COVID-19 vaccines and Aids. The transmission was broadcast live on Thursday (Oct. 21) and was available for reproduction, as is usually the case with this content. The same happened to the video on Instagram, a social networking site that also belongs to Facebook.
According to the president, the information concerns thoroughly vaccinated individuals that received the single or only dose of the vaccine at least 15 days prior. “I’m only relaying the news. I won’t make any comments. I came under fire some time ago for talking about it in the past. Here it is: ‘Official UK government reports suggest that those totally vaccinated […] are developing acquired immunodeficiency syndrome a lot faster than expected.’ I recommend you to read the article. I won’t be reading it here because I may have issues with the live broadcast; I don’t want the broadcast to be cut short. I want to give information,” said the president during the Oct. 21 transmission, without mentioning the source of the article.
In a note released Saturday (23), the HIV/Aids Committee of the Brazilian Society of Infectious Diseases explained that “no relation is known” between any vaccine against COVID-19 and the development of Aids. “We deplore any false news circulating and mentioning this nonexistent association,” the text reads.
The committee also recommends that people living with HIV/Aids should be completely vaccinated against COVID-19, including those allowed to receive the booster dose, 28 days after the second dose. Immunosuppressed people are received the booster dose against COVID-19 in this time frame, as stipulated by the Health Ministry, as well as elders and health agents who took the shot more than six months ago.
Today (25), during a radio interview, the president said he read about the study in an interview on Exame magazine, published last week.
