SAO PAULO (AP) — Brazil’s president claimed Sunday that COVID-19 protocols at soccer matches had prevented him from attending a game.

Jair Bolsonaro said he had wanted to go to a Brazilian championship match in the city of Santos, but did not because he is not vaccinated.

“Why a vaccine passport? I wanted to watch Santos now and they said I needed to be vaccinated. Why should that be?” Bolsonaro told journalists near Santos.

Bolsonaro is currently under a Senate investigation for his handling of the pandemic. Brazil has surpassed 600,000 confirmed COVID-19 deaths, according to health ministry data.

Santos said Bolsonaro had not asked to attend the match, which saw Santos beat Gremio 1-0 at the Vila Belmiro Stadium.

Authorities this week allowed clubs to fill 30% of available seats in Brazilian championship games.

The protocol agreed by the Brazilian soccer confederation says all people inside stadiums must be vaccinated and recently tested.

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More AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer and https://twitter.com/AP_Sports

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Mauricio Savarese is at https://twitter.com/msavarese