Bills in Brazil provide for up to eight years in prison for those who refuse mandatory vaccines, spread 'fake news'

Bills in Brazil provide for up to eight years in prison for those who refuse mandatory vaccines, spread 'fake news' | 29 Jan 2023 | Six bills in the Brazilian Congress criminalize everything from cutting in line to receive a vaccine to people who spread "fake news" about how vaccines work. Authored by Senator Angelo Coronel (PSD), PL 5555/2020 foresees the inclusion in the Criminal Code of imprisonment for one to three years for people who omit or oppose the mandatory vaccination of children or adolescents in a "public health emergency." The project also criminalizes, with a penalty of two to eight years in prison, people who refuse to take the mandatory doses of vaccines. The same punishment also applies to those who spread "false news" about the vaccines or how they work. If the individual is a public employee, the penalty is doubled.