Owner of company representing Covaxin shots to testify in Brazil

Brasilia, Aug 19 (Prensa Latina) Brazilian businessman Francisco Maximiano, the owner of Precisa Medicamentos company, testifies on Thursday at the parliamentary commission probing the government's management to the pandemic (CPI) on the contract to purchase Covaxin, an Indian anti-Covid-19 vaccine.

August 19, 2021
11:22

The company represents in the country Bharat Biotech, the manufacturer of made-in-India vaccine Covaxin, which negotiated a million-dollar transaction with the Ministry of Health and is the target of the inquiry.

Covaxin was the most expensive vaccine negotiated by the Government and came into the sights of the Federal Police and the CPI after Luis Ricardo Miranda, director of Imports of the Logistics Department at the Ministry of Health, denounced that he was being pressured to release the import.

The official is the brother of federal legislator Luis Miranda. Both officials informed President Jair Bolsonaro about irregularities and pressures suffered for the purchase of Covaxin.

Maximiano’s hearing was requested by Senator Alessandro Vieira. The statement was postponed four times.

The CPI was established to investigate the performance of the Executive Power in the face of Covid-19.

Brazil has so far reported 20,458,221 Covid-19 contagions and 571,703 deaths due to complications related to the disease.

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