Brazil's Bolsonaro is indicted for 1st time over alleged falsification of his vaccination status

Sao Paulo: Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was formally accused Tuesday of falsifying his COVID 19 vaccination status, marking the first ind...

Sao Paulo: Former Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro was formally accused Tuesday of falsifying his COVID-19 vaccination status, marking the first indictment for the embattled far-right leader, with more allegations potentially in store.

The federal police indictment released by the Supreme Court alleged that Bolsonaro and 16 others inserted false information into a public health database to make it appear as though the then-president, his 12-year-old daughter and several others in his circle had received the COVID-19 vaccine.

Police detective Fábio Alvarez Shor, who signed the indictment, said in his report that Bolsonaro and his aides changed their vaccination records in order to "issue their respective (vaccination) certificates and use them to cheat current health restrictions.”

"The investigation found several false insertions between November 2021 and December 2022, and also many actions of using fraudulent documents,” Shor added.

The detective said in the indictment that Bolsonaro’s aide-de-camp, Mauro Cid, told investigators the former president asked him to insert the false data into the system for both himself and his daughter. Cid also said he delivered the vaccination certificates to Bolsonaro personally.