Tarcísio de Freitas faces complications due to disregard for childhood vaccines and the Paraisópolis case.

By Cida de Oliveira, from Rebuildables - In the final stretch of the second round, the Bolsonaro-backed candidate for governor of São Paulo, Tarcísio de Freitas (Republicanos), is getting into trouble with his disregard for childhood vaccination and the Paraisópolis case. His long-standing discourse against mandatory vaccination has been reiterated, as has his lack of knowledge about the functioning of the SUS (Brazilian Unified Health System) and the National Immunization Program. In recent statements, Bolsonaro's candidate has implied that he intends to follow in his mentor's footsteps. That is, he will not comply with the state's obligation to vaccinate the people of São Paulo.

Last Thursday (20), in a debate on the SP2 program, on TV Globo, Tarcísio said that he will not “retaliate” against parents who do not vaccinate their children. And more: “Parents have never been forced to vaccinate children. What we need to do is raise awareness,” he said. “People have to have freedom and freedom is a value that must be defended. We will not retaliate, but bring vaccines closer to where people are,” he said, as if the SUS were not widespread and vaccines did not reach the most remote places.

The Bolsonaro-backed candidate for governor of São Paulo is mistaken. And his denialist proposals are unconstitutional, according to lawyer Ariel de Castro Alves, a human rights specialist and member of the National Institute for the Rights of Children and Adolescents. "Tarcisio disrespects the ECA (Statute of Children and Adolescents), which stipulates that vaccination is mandatory, putting children at risk," he told RBA.

Vaccination is mandatory, but Tarcísio wants to wash his hands of it.

This is because Article 227 of the Federal Constitution stipulates that it is the duty of the family, society, and the State to ensure, with absolute priority, the right to life, health, food, education, leisure, professional training, culture, dignity, respect, freedom, and family and community life for children, adolescents, and young people, as well as to protect them from all forms of neglect, discrimination, exploitation, violence, cruelty, and oppression.

The Child and Adolescent Statute (ECA), in its article 14, determines that the SUS (Unified Health System) will promote medical and dental care programs for the prevention of diseases that commonly affect the child population, and health education campaigns for parents, educators, and students. Sole paragraph: Vaccination of children is mandatory in cases recommended by health authorities. Paragraph 1: Vaccination of children is mandatory in cases recommended by health authorities.

“By arguing that vaccinations are not mandatory for children, Tarcísio aims to leave them unprotected and put them at risk. This is a huge irresponsibility for someone who wants to govern the most important state in the country. And it could have repercussions throughout Brazil, since São Paulo has always been a benchmark in vaccination,” he said.

Relaxing vaccine restrictions opens the door for the return of diseases.

According to the lawyer, by washing his hands of the issue of children's vaccination, Bolsonaro's candidate is contradicting the Constitution and the Statute of Children and Adolescents (ECA). "He incites the violation of the right to health and also encourages parents to neglect their children's rights. The ECA and the Federal Constitution establish the full protection of children and adolescents," he emphasized.

The fear is that, as governor, Tarcísio could, for example, order schools to stop requiring vaccination updates as they currently do. "After all, for him, parents should only take their children to the vaccination center if they want to," he pointed out. And with that, coverage could drop even further, opening the door for the return of eradicated diseases. In the state of São Paulo, polio vaccination coverage is at 70%, when the target was 95%. There are neighborhoods in the capital with meningitis outbreaks.

According to the lawyer, candidate Tarcísio wants to formalize Bolsonaro's denialism in São Paulo. "He wants to defy the Statute of Children and Adolescents (ECA), generating risks for children. The common good, of preventing epidemics, is above individual freedom. There is no right to choose. Parents who don't take their children to be vaccinated can cause serious harm to their own children and to other children. And they can be held accountable for breach of parental duties, for negligence, and even for mistreatment."

 And he recalled the current situation, marked by a sharp drop in childhood vaccination rates due to the denialism of Bolsonaro, his allies, and members of the government. One of the consequences is the return of the polio virus to the country, with a case in Pará under investigation. “This statement by the candidate is shameful and unacceptable. It shows that he has no commitment to childhood. And it also puts at risk the entire structure and reputation of the state of São Paulo in this scientific and health area.”

Tarcísio's team and the shooting in Paraisópolis

 Ariel, who heads the Torture Never Again Group of São Paulo, is also following another case that has complicated the life of the Bolsonaro supporter: the possible crimes of obstruction of justice, personal favoritism, suppression of documents, procedural fraud, and coercion during the course of the process involving his campaign team. According to the newspaper Folha de S.Paulo, a member of the group ordered a cameraman from Jovem Pan to delete images of the shootout in Paraisópolis on October 17, which left one person dead. The exchange of gunfire interrupted a campaign event for the Bolsonaro supporter in the community in the southern zone of the São Paulo capital.

According to the lawyer, "there is strong evidence that it was an execution" and "not a confrontation, or any type of resistance followed by death." "The murder of a community resident, which may have been intended to generate a political event, in a community already marked by the Paraisópolis Massacre, in which nine young people died in a police operation in 2019," Ariel recalled.

“There is other conflicting information released by members of the police,” he said, demanding transparency regarding the images recorded by the body cameras worn by the police officers during the incident. “No proof of this has come to light so far,” he argued. 

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