Bolsonaro Fires Brazil Health Official After New Vaccine Graft Accusation

SAO PAULO (Reuters) – Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro fired a Health Ministry official on Wednesday after a report that the official asked for a bribe in a vaccine deal, the latest graft accusation to rock the government amid investigations of its pandemic response.

With over half a million COVID-19 deaths and more new cases daily than any other country, anger is mounting in Brazil over missed opportunities to buy coronavirus vaccines. Accusations of corruption undercutting efforts have poured fuel on the fire, triggering new calls for Bolsonaro’s impeachment.

On Tuesday, Brazil suspended https://www.reuters.com/world/india/brazil-suspend-indian-vaccine-deal-graft-allegations-probed-2021-06-29 a contract worth 1.6 billion reais ($321 million) for a vaccine from India’s Bharat Biotech, following allegations of undue pressure within the ministry. Bharat and the government have denied wrongdoing.

In Wednesday’s official government gazette, Bolsonaro’s chief of staff dismissed the ministry’s logistics chief, Roberto Ferreira Dias.

Newspaper Folha de S.Paulo reported late on Tuesday that Dias had suggested a bribe of one dollar per dose during a dinner to discuss a different order of 400 million vaccines, citing a representative from a medical supply company.

The Health Ministry said the dismissal of Dias had been decided on Tuesday morning, without addressing the allegations.

Dias could not be reached immediately for comment.

Leaders of a Senate inquiry into the government’s pandemic response, who are already probing alleged irregularities in a separate vaccine contract, said they would summon witnesses regarding the fresh accusations.

The head of the government coalition in the lower house of Congress, lawmaker Ricardo Barros, who was cited by Folha as having suggested Dias for his post in January 2019, denied the connection.

“He was not my indication,” wrote Barros, a former health minister and power broker in the centrist bloc that has shielded Bolsonaro from calls for impeachment, on social media. He added that he was not a government ally when Dias was appointed.

($1 = 4.98 reais)

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