Brazil's inability to stop the Covid-19 pandemic, and to purchase vaccines promptly, can largely be attributed to the ideology of President Jair Bolsonaro and his anti-science stances. There is another motive, however. As the steady stream of reports about multimillion-dollar kickback schemes for vaccine purchases becomes more evident, it could be that there was a desire to maximize profit. According to an opposition politician, Rep. Paulo Pimenta said that there is a direct link between corruption and denialism. A Senate investigation into the mishandling of pandemic by the government has been focused on two separate, but related cases that have strong evidence of fraud. These cases involve members of Bolsonaros' administration, his key allies in Congress, as well as senior military personnel who were appointed to high-ranking positions in the Health Ministry. Both instances involved Health Ministry officials who tried to purchase vaccines from intermediaries, rather than directly from the producers. This is less likely than committing brazenly corrupt deals.Bolsonaro failed to act when he was alerted to irregularities during the governments negotiations to purchase 20 million doses Covaxin vaccine. The vaccine is manufactured by Indias Bharat Biotech at above-market prices. The whistleblower testified in sworn Senate testimony that Bolsonaro said: It's another scam by Ricardo Barros. This refers to an ally who is a leader of the lower house of Congress, a former minister of health, and who is prominently a member of a powerful, corrupt, and centralist bloc. Bolsonaro, who was a prominent anti-corruption advocate, has not denied the allegations. The scandal's alleged owner, Precisa Medicamentos, is also close to Bolsonaro's son, Senator Flavio Bolsonaro. Roberto Dias (ex-head of logistics for the Health Ministry) allegedly demanded a $1 kickback per dose from Davati Medical Supply in the U.S., who claimed it could supply 400 million AstraZeneca shot. It turned out that Davati was not a representative for AstraZeneca. He had no way to deliver on the deal but was able negotiate with top officials. The Senate commission continues to leak information. It convened in April and will resume hearings August 3 after a two week recess. We are uncovering new facts and elements every day, said Sen. Randolfe Rodriguez, vice president of this commission. Other fraudulent contracts are being investigated as well as corruption. Sen. Randolfe Rodrigues, vice president of the commission, said that every day we discover a new element or fact.Tuesday's offer by Bolsonaros to Sen. Ciro Nogueira was accepted. This is a crucial Cabinet-level post reserved for trusted allies. Nogueira, a Centro leader, has been directly involved in coronavirus-related corruption. He is also being investigated in five other criminal cases. Flavio Bolsonaro will replace him as the president's main defender on the Senate commission. Bolsonaro will give the keys to the presidential palace to Arthur Lira, the speaker of Brazil's lower House of Congress. He is from Nogueiras party, and the only person who can initiate or block impeachment proceedings for the tragic mishandling of pandemic.A woman places a rose on top a mattress to represent Covid-19 victims, during a demonstration by Rio de Paz, a human rights activist group, outside a Rio de Janeiro hospital, Brazil on March 24, 2021. Photo: Carl de Souza/AFP via Getty ImagesPandemic or Opportunity? More than 550,000 Brazilians have been killed by Covid-19, which is the second-highest cause of death in the world. Public health professionals and political observers from around the globe gnashed at Bolsonaro's insistence that the disease was not serious and encouraged Brazilians, who were already living as normal, to avoid wearing masks. Researchers at the University of So Paulo found that Bolsonaro deliberately and systematically spread the virus.Tatiana Roque is the coordinator of Science and Culture Forum at Federal University of Rio de Janeiro. She told The Intercept that because of deeply held ideologies, the Bolsonaro administration had pursued an antiscientific, denialist and eugenicist response to the pandemic. She stated that every tool needed to combat the pandemic must be more tightly regulated and have greater state presence. Roque stated that these collective measures go against the foundation ideology of the extreme right, which was its libertarianism. Pimenta is a member of Congress representing former President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva's Workers Party. She said that corruption is the root of the pandemic response, and that Bolsonaro is to blame. Anybody who has ever met Bolsonaro and the Bolsonaro families knows that there is no corruption within the government that does not involve the family. Pimenta said that he is the chief of the criminal conspiracy, along with his sons. The purpose of the scheme was to allow bribes to be paid for contracts for vaccines or emergency medical supplies. This is perverse because the country must have many deaths in order to show that you are willing to pay more than the market price to stop these deaths from happening again. Pimenta said it was Kafkaesque. Because bidding was eliminated by the pandemic, the pandemic provided them with a window of opportunity. For a man who deals in corruption, there is nothing better than being able buy everything as an emergency purchase, without the need for bidding. Sen. Humberto Costa of the Workers Party, a member on the Senate commission, said that ideology and the desire not to close down the economy drove the pandemic response. The corruption was merely incidental. Costa said that while the administration was aware that it was impossible to stall the purchase of vaccines they also saw that the money was large and they pursued other options that could lead to bribes.They saw the pandemic as a window of opportunity, since bidding was no longer necessary.Rodrigues is the vice president of the Senate Commission. He said that the inquiry has implicated Bolsonaros' crme de la crme in corruption cases. This includes many people who have relationships with Sen. Flavio Bolsonaro. These contracts were signed before the Bolsonaro government and the pandemic. However, they are still in effect and involve Nogueira and Lira as well as Flavio Bolsonaro and Barros. Flavio was last year charged with embezzlement of mafia figures. He bought a Brasia mansion worth $1 million in March, which rankled even close friends. Rodrigues stated that he expected to uncover more corruption and that the investigation had already had a significant impact on coronavirus policies. He said that the investigation had changed Brazil's agenda. Jair Bolsonaros is nonsense, the country's agenda has changed.Flavio Bolsonaro and Jair Bolsonaro (Brasil) give thumbs up during the lowering the Brazilian national flag on the Palacio da Alvorada lawn in Brasil, Brazil on July 21, 2020. Photo: Dida Sampaio/AP
