Brazil’s health minister has declared the suspension of a $324 million contract with an Indian firm for Covaxin against the Covid-19 which has seen president Jair Bolsonaro mired in accusations of irregularities.
Marcelo Queiroga in the press conference stated that, following the guidance of the federal Comptroller General of the Union (CGU). Queiroga further said his team would probe the allegations during the period of the suspension of the contract.
The minister officially stated that “According to the preliminary analysis of the CGU, there are no irregularities in the contract, but for compliance, the health ministry chose to suspend the contract,”
Previously, Brazil has signed a deal with India’s Bharat Biotech International Limited. The deal suggests they had ordered 20 million doses of its anti-Covid vaccine Covaxin. But federal prosecutors have now opened an investigation into the deal, citing comparatively high prices, “quick talks,” and pending regulatory approvals as red flags. The deal is also under the scanner of a Senate panel probing the federal government’s handling of the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Brazil’s cumulative Covid-19 infection tally stands at over 18.5 million, the third-highest globally behind the infection tallies of the United States and India respectively. The virus has till now claimed more than 510,000 lives in the South American nation, the Johns Hopkins’ dashboard shows; this is the second-highest coronavirus-related death toll in the world after that of the United States (604,474). Also, the US and Brazil are the only two countries with a Covid-19 death toll exceeding 500,000.
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