Brazil to cancel COVID vaccine agreement with India’s Bharat Biotech Business and Economic News

The treatment of Bharat Biotech’s 20 million-dose shooting has turned into a headache for Bolsonaro due to allegations of irregularities.

Brazil will suspend its $ 324 million COVID-19 vaccination contract in India, which has confused President Jair Bolsonaro in allegations of irregularities, the health minister said on Tuesday, following instructions from the federal controller CGU.

The agreement to buy 20 million doses of Bovat Biotech’s Covaxin shot has turned into a headache for Bolsonaro after the txistularis made public with alleged irregularities. A health ministry official said he had alerted the president to his concerns.

Bolsonaro, whose death toll in Brazil’s COVID-19 death of more than 500,000 has waned, has denied the allegations on Monday, saying he was unaware of any irregularities. But the thorny questions are that he refuses to leave, and could cause him problems ahead of next year’s presidential vote.

Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said at a press conference that his team would consider the allegations during the break.

“According to the CGU’s preliminary analysis, there are no irregularities in the contract, but to comply, the Ministry of Health chose to suspend the contract,” the ministry said in a statement.

On Thursday, CNN Brazil reported that the ministry had decided to cancel the contract.

Brazilian federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into the deal, citing it as a red flag in terms of comparatively high prices, quick conversations and regulatory approvals. A Senate panel that is investigating how the government has treated the pandemic is also being examined.

Bunch of irregularities

Lower House representative Luis Miranda, in a congressional committee examining how Bolsonaro treated the pandemic on Friday night, said he had a meeting with the president in March to explain some of the irregularities in buying the Covaxin vaccine created by India’s Bharat Biotech. International Ltd.

During the interview, as described by Miranda, Bolsonaro blamed the lower house chief Ricardo Barros for the disorder in the health ministry, but did not interrupt the purchase.

Luis Ricardo Miranda, a brother of parliamentarian and health ministry official, told senators in the analysis of documents related to the purchase of the vaccine that the original text of Bharat Biotech’s contract was made by the ministry. He mentioned that some of the differences would be the mode of payment, the number of doses and the statement of the intermediate companies.

One of the main opposition senators in that panel filed a formal criminal complaint against Bolsonaro in the Supreme Court on Monday. Senator Randolfe Rodrigues said the court is investigating “serious allegations” and that Bolsonaro “wants to know why there is a huge corruption scheme in the Ministry of Health” after being informed.

It is also the first time that senators investigating the government’s response to the pandemic have examined allegations of corruption against allies close to the government. So far it has been reporting delays in vaccine purchases and unproven KOVID treatments by the government.