CGU concludes that Bolsonaro's vaccination certificate is fake

An investigation by the Comptroller General of the Union (CGU) concluded that the immunization record against Covid-19 on former president Jair Bolsonaro's vaccination card is false. The investigation originated from a request to the Access to Information Law (LAI) made at the end of 2022.

Current data from the Ministry of Health, which appears on the vaccination card, indicates that the former president was vaccinated on July 19, 2021 at the Basic Health Unit (UBS) Parque Peruche, in the north of São Paulo. The CGU, however, found that Bolsonaro was not in the capital of São Paulo on that date and that the vaccination batch that appears in the Ministry of Health's system was not available on that date at the UBS where the immunization would have taken place.

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According to records from the Brazilian Air Force (FAB), the former president flew from São Paulo to Brasília the day before the supposed vaccination and did not make any other flights until at least July 22, 2021. The auditors also took statements from UBS employees , who stated that they had not seen Bolsonaro at the location on the reported date and denied having received requests to register the immunization.

Among the people interviewed was the nurse indicated on the vaccination card. The employee not only denied the procedure, but also proved, through documents, that she no longer worked at the UBS on the date stated in the Ministry of Health's records. The CGU auditors also checked the physical books maintained by the UBS to record the vaccination of the population and did not find the presence of the former president at the location on July 19, 2021.

State fraud

The CGU concluded that fraud occurred in the state system. According to investigations, all UBS employees shared the same login and password for the VaciVida system, maintained by the São Paulo State Department of Health. As it was not possible to find a responsible public agent, the CGU recommended that the case be closed, but will send the results of the investigations to the authorities of the state and municipality of São Paulo for the adoption of appropriate measures.

The Comptroller reported having carried out due diligence at the Ministry of Health and confirmed the security of the system maintained by the department to receive information sent by states and municipalities, with the impossibility of the data having been entered at the federal level. The auditors found no suspicion that any federal public servant had altered the data.

Other records

This was not the first vaccination record against Covid-19 attributed to Bolsonaro. Two other registrations, which would have occurred in Duque de Caxias (RJ), were made by municipal agents and canceled before the CGU investigation. Suspicions of a vaccination card fraud scheme, which would involve a municipal secretary, led to Operation Venire by the Federal Police, which resulted in the arrest of Lieutenant Colonel Mauro Cid, former aide-de-camp of the Presidency of the Republic in May of the year past.

At the time of Mauro Cid's arrest, Bolsonaro's defense stated that there was not sufficient evidence of the former president's direct involvement in the case. In a statement to the Federal Police in May last year, Bolsonaro stated that he was at the disposal of the Court and denied having provided any instructions to subordinates to change their vaccination records.