The Brazilian government, which agreed to purchase 20 million doses of Bharat Biotech’s COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, on Wednesday announced the suspension of the contract following allegations of irregularities in the deal. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been accused of ignoring possible corruption in the deal to purchase vaccines. "By recommendation of @CGUonline, we decided to temporarily suspend the Covaxin contract. According to CGU's preliminary analysis, there are no irregularities in the contract, but, due to compliance, the @minsaude opted to suspend the contract for further analysis," Brazil Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga tweeted.
The Covaxin contract to Brazil landed in controversy after the South American country’s Attorney General reportedly launched a probe into the deal. "It is noteworthy that the @govbr did not pay ANY CENT for the Covaxin vaccine. The measure does not compromise the pace of the vaccination campaign against #Covid19 in Brazil, since there is no approval from Anvisa for emergency or definitive use of the immunizing agent (sic)," Queiroga said in another tweet.
After Brazil said that it will be suspending its $320 million COVID-19 vaccine contract, Bharat Biotech issued a statement denying that any payments were made to Brazil.
The Brazilian Health Ministry had signed a contract for two crore Covaxin doses in February. However, the government hadn't yet made any payments nor were any vaccines provided due to obstacles in the health regulator's approval process. Prosecutors had been investigating possible irregularities in the contract, which committed the Brazilian Health Ministry to pay $320 million at a cost of $15 per vaccine dose — the most expensive of all vaccines Brazil purchased — to Bharat Biotech's representative in Brazil, reported Associated Press, which accessed a document by the prosecutor-general's press office.
The chief of the Health Ministry’s import division, Luis Ricardo Miranda, testified before a Senate committee that he faced pressure to greenlight the import of Covaxin and that there were irregularities in the invoices, particularly a $45 million upfront payment to a Singapore-based company. His brother Luis Miranda, a lawmaker until recently allied with Bolsonaro, also testified before the committee.
Miranda said that they had brought their concerns to Bolsonaro, who they said promised to send the case to the Federal Police and mentioned the government's leader in Congress's lower house, a top Bolsonaro ally, as being involved. However, the Federal Police never received any request to investigate, neither from Bolsonaro nor his Health Ministry, according to a Federal Police source with knowledge of investigations who wasn't authorised to speak publicly and declined to be named.
Bolsonaro has denied all wrongdoing and knowledge of possible corruption.
Bharat Biotech has denied any allegation of wrongdoing with respect to vaccine supply, saying in an emailed statement that it adheres to the highest standards of compliance. The company's press representative has not responded when asked why a payment would be routed through a Singapore-based company. The company in a statement issued on June 30, Wednesday, said that a step by step approach has been followed towards contracts, and regulatory approvals in the contract with the Health Ministry of Brazil.
“As of June 29, 2021, Bharat Biotech has not received any advance payments nor supplied any vaccines to MOH Brazil. Bharat Biotech has followed a similar approach towards contracts, regulatory approvals and supplies in several countries worldwide, where Covaxin is being supplied successfully,” Bharat Biotech has said.
“The pricing of COVAXIN has been clearly established between $15-20 per dose for supplies to Governments outside India. The pricing for Brazil has also been indicated at $5 per dose,” the company said, adding that it has received advance payments from several other countries at the above price points, with supplies in process and pending approvals.
With AP inputs