On May 3rd, the PF complied with a search and confiscation order in the house of the former governor, one of the objectives of Operation Venire, which investigates the manipulation of inoculation cards. The agents seized Bolsonaro’s mobile phone.

According to TV Globo, the fraud involving the vaccination cards of Bolsonaro and his daughter Laura, occurred on December 21st, just before traveling to the United States (his first to the last day in office).

“I never said that I took the (Covid-19) vaccine. They never asked me for a vaccination card in the United States. There is no manipulation on my part,” said the politician when he left his residence in Brasilia, accompanied by his attorneys.

During an interview with journalists outside his home, Bolsonaro declared that he chose not to take the vaccine after reading the immunization bulletin. “I did not take the vaccine. It was a personal decision of mine, after reading the Pfizer (vaccine) leaflet,” he claimed, and reported that his daughter Laura was not vaccinated either.

“The false insertions, which occurred between November 2021 and December 2022, had as a consequence, the alteration of the truth about a legally relevant fact, that is, the immunized status against Covid-19 of the beneficiaries,” the PF pointed out in a statement.

As a result, “such people were able to issue the respective vaccination certificates and use them to circumvent the current sanitary restrictions imposed by the public powers (Brazil and the United States) aimed at preventing the spread of contagious diseases.”

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