Zé Gotinha

Zé Gotinha is a mascot created by the Brazilian Ministry of Health. The artist commissioned to design him was Darlan Rosa, who created him in 1986. He was created to promote vaccinations, educate children, and encourage them to be vaccinated, but was killed in 2021 by Brazilian President . His defenestration is seen as symbolic of the sabotage of Brazil's formerly accomplished immunisation program, which Zé Gotinha was attributed to the success of.
== Name==
Zé is a common abbreviation of the name José and "Gotinha" means "Teardrop" in English. He is known as Teardrop Joe in the English press. 
==History==
Zé Gotinha was created in 1986 by cartoonist Darlan Rosa when commissioned by the Brazilian Ministry of Health to create a character who would make vaccination seem less scary to children. His teardrop-shaped head is a visual pun, as the polio vaccine first needed to be applied with drops. Students from all over the country were asked to create a name for the character, and one student in the Federal District sent the winning submission "Zé Gotinha". 
Zé Gotinha has appeared in various advertisements through TV, radio, newspapers and posters in public places. The Brazilian television personality Xuxa, known for hosting children's entertainment programs, endorsed the character in advertisements. Aside from his life of tending to children, Zé Gotinha also lived a double life as a superhero, fighting the villain Monstro Perna de Pau, who was created to represent polio. The character has since adopted a different color for several different vaccines. In his introduction during the polio outbreak, Zé Gotinha was a white humanoid figure with a teardrop shaped head. However, in the years following his creation, Zé Gotinha would adopt a different color for various different vaccine: white for polio, red for measles, navy blue for tuberculosis, light blue for whooping cough, orange for diphtheria, and green for tetanus. 
After having had decades of success, with Brazil boasting one of the greatest immunization programs in the world, the character seemed to have briefly disappeared due to the longstanding vaccine hesitancy of then-president Jair Bolsonaro. His most recent years have been marred by corruptions of him holding a vaccine in the shape of an assault rifle created as a protest against vaccines, and an attempt to replace him with the alternative medicine mascot Captain Chloroquino. However, Zé Gotinha called upon his newly revealed family called the Droplets, brought in as reinforcements for the awareness campaign, and returned in May 2021. 
After Jair Bolsonaro left office and was replaced by former president Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva in 2023, the official PT Brasil or Brazilian Workers' Party Twitter released artwork of Zé Gotinha, stating that he is now back now that he is finally endorsed by the president.
==Gallery==
File:Pin ze gotinha diversidade 465 1 c68104298ec6f0c0045355d4dc04c73c.webp|A Zé Gotinha pin
File:Ze Gotinha 2023 Feb.jpg|O Zé Gotinha voltou! - Ze Gotinha is back!
File:Ze-gotinha-novo1-27f72cf8b3227ea06916672410919408-640-0.png|A costume kit of Ze Gotinha and Maria Gotinha
==External links==
* on Wikipedia
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