Brazil COVID inquiry staffers urge postponing Copa America | Al Jazeera

Staff members of a Brazilian Senate inquiry into the country’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic have called for the upcoming Copa America football tournament to be postponed, citing low vaccination rates and the risks of spreading the virus.

In a letter to the country’s football team on Sunday, the Senate commission staffers said only 10.77 percent of the population had received first doses of coronavirus vaccines as of Friday across Brazil.

The Senate commission in late April launched its investigation into far-right President Jair Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic, which has killed more than 472,000 people across the South American nation, according to Johns Hopkins University data.

“Brazil does not offer sanitary security for holding an international tournament of this magnitude. In addition to transmitting a false sense of security and normality, opposite to the reality that Brazilians are living, it would encourage agglomerations of people and set a bad example,” the staffers said in their letter.

“We are not against Copa America in Brazil or anywhere else. But we believe the tournament can wait until the country is ready to host it.”