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Brazil suspends $324-mn COVID-19 vaccine deal with Bharat Biotech

Brazil’s health minister has announced that the country will suspend the $324 million contract to buy 20 million doses of Bharat Biotech’s COVID-9 vaccine Covaxin. This announcement comes amid a probe into accusations of irregularities against President Jair Bolsonaro. The President has been accused of overlooking possible corruption in a deal to buy COVID-19 vaccines.

Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga and head of the Federal Comptroller General (CGU) Wagner Rosario said during a press conference on Tuesday that the agency will probe the process of purchasing the vaccine.

“We suspended the deal as a simple preventive measure, since there are complaints that could not be explained well by the complainant, so we opened a preliminary investigation last week,” said Rosario. “We have put in a reinforced team for the verification. We hope to be very quick in this process, and we hope that in no more than 10 days we will already have an answer for this analysis,” he added, as mentioned in a report in ANI.

Brazil’s Health Minister said that his administration will investigate to verify all aspects of the issue that are being raised. The contract for the purchase of Covaxin was signed in February.

A Health Ministry official said he personally alerted the President about his concerns.

The negotiation between the Bolsonaro government and Need Medicines that brokered the deal has been under the scanner. The country’s senate is probing the contract. Bolsonaro said that the senate is aimed at undermining the administration.

Brazilian federal prosecutors have opened an investigation into the deal, citing comparatively high prices, quick talks and pending regulatory approvals as red flags for the contract. Business Today

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