Brazil suspends contract to buy 20 million doses of Covaxin

National

Brazil had decided to cancel a contract for the purchase of coronavirus vaccines from India at the cost of $324 million. The vaccine order now cancelled was for 20 million Covaxin doses, manufactered by Bharat Biotech.

The Brazilian Health Ministry and the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) advised President Jair Bolsonaro to suspend the deal for now, seeing as he is beset by accusations of corruption caused by certain discrepancies in the purchase. These irregularities in the deal were revealed by whistleblowers claiming to have knowledge of the contract.

The public opinion of Bolsonaro was already in decline, as the blame for the death toll in Brazil is being placed upon him and his management of the pandemic. If any evidence about his alleged embezzlement in the deal is discovered, then whatever is left of his public image will be shattered wholly, a worrying prospect for him seeing as the next President elections in Brazil are coming up next year.

Marcelo Queiroga, the Minister of Health for Brazil, assured the press at a conference that the whole affair will be thoroughly investigated by their teams. He also informed that although the preliminary investigation of the CGU revealed no proof of wrongdoing in regards to the deal, the Health Ministry has decided to suspend the contract until the full picture is clear to them.