By Roberto Morejón
Jair Bolsonaro's sinuous relationship with the COVID-19 pandemic could be far from over if it is confirmed that the ultra-right-wing Brazilian ex-president used a false certificate to prove his immunization.
According to a police accusation, the former ruler would have used one of his aides to introduce simulated data in the public health system, to pretend that he and his daughter received the vaccine against Sars-Cov-2.
It is not that the politician of extreme ideas was convinced of the efficacy of the vaccines, but a convenience to be able to travel to the United States.
As is known, Jair Bolsonaro crudely skipped the ritual of handing over the presidential sash to his successor and winner of the 2022 elections, Luiz Inacio Lula Da Silva.
He did so because he could not assimilate the weight of his defeat and went to the United States to ruminate his anger.
The truth is that the first formal accusation has been filed against the exponent of the conservative current in Brazil.
We must remember that the 68-year-old politician was among the few statesmen to oppose the COVID-19 vaccines, joking about the sanitary restrictions and urging his compatriots to imitate him.
It was not just hearsay because he turned his back on offers from a pharmaceutical company to sell vaccines to Brazil and criticized the then governor of the state of Sao Paulo, Joao Doria, for acquiring them in China.
A Brazilian Senate committee recommended in October 2021 to file nine criminal charges against Bolsonaro for his lousy handling of the pandemic, although the then prosecutor and ally Augusto Aras stopped the process.
More than a few experts point to the former army captain's responsibility for the high number of deaths during the pandemic, 700,000, too many in a country with a considerable health infrastructure.
His involvement in an alleged fake vaccination joins other mishaps, as the Supreme Electoral Tribunal disqualified him until 2030 for abuse of power during the 2022 election campaign and promoting unfounded doubts about the electronic voting system.
Investigated for allegedly trying to introduce diamond jewelry into Brazil and prevent its incorporation into the public collection of the presidency and his alleged participation in the mob assault on the building of the three powers in 2023, Bolsonaro cannot deny that he is still on the crest of the wave, no less for suspicions of coup plotter and impostor.
