Brazilian president Bolsonaro denied entry to a soccer match in his country because he’s not vaccinated

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has claimed he was not allowed to attend a league match between Santos and Gremio because the home club did not allow unvaccinated supporters into their stadium.

The Sunday soccer match was Santos’ first with supporters present since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic, but the club insisted it would only permit entry of vaccinated people or those who had a negative PCR test.

“I wanted to watch the Santos game now and they told me you have to be vaccinated,” Bolsonaro said in a video posted on the website of the Metropoles news portal. “Why?”

Bolsonaro, who has refused to get vaccinated and encouraged others to follow his lead, claimed he had antibodies because he had already contracted COVID-19.

“I have more antibodies than whoever took the vaccines.”

A spokesman for Santos said the club had not been approached by the president’s team and that all fans must follow the country’s sanitary regulations.

The Brazilian President is one of the most high-profile world leaders to publicly claim he has not been vaccinated.