The Brazilian government via its Health Ministry has added the mRNA COVID-19 vaccine to the country's National Immunization Program (PNI) for children six months to five years old.
As reported by Agência Brasil, the new policy will take effect in 2024 and will require at least three doses of the vaccine.
Approved on Nov. 29 by the Senate's Committee on Social Affairs, law proposal No. 826 is currently being analysed by the Educational Commission.
With the obligation, not vaccinating children will result in fines and loss of social benefits to their families.
In addition to mandatory vaccination for young children, the Brazilian government may also introduce a compulsory vaccination program in schools. This will be the result of another bill under present consideration by the Brazilian Senate, establishing vaccine centres in the country's schools.
According to the newspaper Estadão, this law proposal states that students who do not participate in the school vaccination program would be reported to Brazilian authorities.