Vaccine will turn you into alligator, missionaries tell indigenous Brazilians

Leaders of Brazil’s indigenous communities say evangelical missionaries are scaring people away from receiving coronavirus vaccine in remote villages, accusing far-right President Jair Bolsonaro being behind the campaign. 

Health workers, sent for immunization of Brazil’s remote indigenous villages, said they encountered fierce resistance in some communities in the region.

“Religious fundamentalists and evangelical missionaries are preaching against the vaccine,” said Dinamam Tuxá, a leader of APIB, Brazil’s largest indigenous organization.

“It’s not happening in all villages,” said Claudemir da Silva, an indigenous leader. “Just in those that have missionaries or evangelical chapels where pastors are convincing the people not to receive the vaccine.”

He said the missionaries convinced people that “they will turn into an alligator and other crazy ideas” if they received the vaccine.

That has added to fears that the pandemic could spread through Brazil’s more than 800,000 indigenous people.

Brazil has been hit hard in the pandemic, with some 9,713,909 coronavirus cases and 236,201 deaths.

Tribal leaders blame President Bolsonaro and some of his allies in the evangelical community for stoking skepticism about the vaccination program.

Bolsonaro has repeatedly played down the severity of the deadly virus and refused to take a vaccine himself.

If you take the vaccine and turn into an alligator, it’s your problem,” the president said in December.

“If you turn into Superman or women grow beards, I have nothing to do with that,” he said sarcastically.

Earlier this week, the Association of Brazilian Anthropologists denounced unspecified religious groups for spreading false conspiracy theories to “sabotage” the vaccination of indigenous people.

The government’s indigenous health agency Sesai said it was working to raise awareness of the importance of coronavirus immunization.

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The pandemic has so far killed at least 957 indigenous people, according to APIB.

Many of Brazil’s indigenous people live in remote Amazon areas with little access to healthcare.

Tribal leaders and advocates say the Bolsonaro government has not included the communities in national plans to fight the virus.

In a letter to the World Health Organization (WHO) last year, indigenous leaders asked for help to provide personal protective equipment.

“It is a real emergency,” said Joenia Wapichana, the leader of the appeal to the WHO. “Indigenous people are vulnerable and have no protection.”

Some 48,071 cases of infections have also been confirmed among half of Brazil’s 300 native ethnic groups.

The numbers could be much higher, because Sesai only monitors indigenous people living on reservations.

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