Brazilian senator charges Bolsonaro over vaccines | Coronavirus pandemic News

Opposition senators are calling for an investigation into alleged irregularities in the government’s purchase of a coronavirus vaccine.

A Brazilian opposition senator has filed a criminal complaint against the far-right president Jair Bolsonaro in the country’s Supreme Court, demanding an investigation into alleged irregularities in the purchase of the COVID-19 vaccine.

The allegation came after a government commission investigating the government’s pandemic response revealed it explosive allegations last week Bolsonaro was aware of the alleged corruption in Brazil’s $ 300 million deal over the Covaxin vaccine in India and did not intervene.

In a video released by his office, Senator Randolfe Rodrigues said the Supreme Court had requested that the president be treated for “serious allegations” and that Bolsonaro “had not taken any action on the” huge corruption scheme in the Ministry of Health. “

The president’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Bolsonaro, a skeptical COVID-19 who said the virus was “a little bit of the flu” earlier in the pandemic, has been under increasing pressure from his government to deal with the crisis. A committee of the Brazilian Senate was launched research in April.

But Bolsonaro has continued to be challenged, rejecting calls for the imposition of national restrictions such as local cover-ups, despite the proliferation of coronavirus deaths across the country.

According to a balance sheet from Johns Hopkins University, Brazil has the highest number of deaths in the world after the United States, killing more than 513,000 people.

Bharate’s contract is being investigated by federal prosecutors and lawmakers as to why the government closed the deal with a company intermediary after Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine bids were rejected at a lower price.

Brazilian federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into a $ 320 million contract for a 20 million dose of Bharat Biotech vaccine. The prosecution cited comparatively high prices, quick interviews and pending regulatory approvals as the red flag for the contract signed in February.

It remains to be seen whether Rodrigues’ request will be approved by the Supreme Court.

But the case threatens to harm Bolsonaro politically at a time when his support is dwindling and polls are following the left. Former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva to go to the polls next year.