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While seeking re-election, the mayor of Rio de Janeiro is making a huge campaign promise: free Ozempic for all.
As Quartz reports, Rio Mayor Eduardo Paes said that he lost 66 pounds after taking the popular weight-loss injectable manufactured by Danish drugmaker Novo Nordisk.
“I took a lot of Ozempic, that little medicine that is helping everyone lose weight,” Paes told Brazilian newspaper Extra, as translated by Quartz. “Its patent will expire next year, and it will be available as a generic and I will introduce it to the entire public health system.”
As a note, the latter claim is not exactly true. Though there have been challenges to speed up the pace of generics in Brazil, the patent for semaglutide, the main ingredient in Ozempic and Wegovy, isn’t slated to expire in the country until 2026.
After claiming he’d “introduce” the generic into the city’s public health system without discussing how he would undertake such an endeavor as the leader of an individual municipality, the longtime Rio mayor then made an even bolder claim.
“Rio will be a city where there will be no more fat people,” Paes declared. “Everyone will be taking Ozempic at family clinics.”
Problematic fatphobia aside, Rio de Janeiro’s population is a whopping 13.7 million people, making his claim a massive stretch.
Understandably, Paes’ controversial comments opened him up to criticism from opponents in the mayoral election, which is set to occur on October 6.
Mayoral candidate Alexandre Ramagem, posted a carousel on his campaign’s Instagram showing voters complaining online about lacking basic medical necessities in the face of Paes’ comments. Fellow mayor hopeful Tarcísio Motta, meanwhile, said the comments were fatphobic and “disrespectful to the diversity of bodies” in Rio.
Hitting back, Paes insisted he isn’t fatphobic and said he’s only interested in the health of the city’s populace.
“When the patent is broken, which should happen in 2025 or 2026, it will reduce the cost enormously,” the longtime mayor said, referencing the 1,000 Brazilian Reals or roughly $182 it currently costs Brazilians to access the weight loss drug. “Why not make it available to the population?”
“We’re not going to give it away for vain reasons,” he continued. “It’s not to make six-packs.”
As usual, a politician is politicking — but in Rio, the personal seems to have become political.
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