Brazil's ex-president, the 'Trump of the Tropics,' charged with faking Covid-19 vaccination

Brazil's Donald Trump-loving ex-president, already under investigation for trying to overturn his election loss, was accused Tuesday of tampering with a public health database to fake his vaccination against COVID-19.

Jair Bolsonaro planted false information in a government database to make it appear that he, his 12-year-old daughter and members of his entourage had received the COVID-19 jab, police said.

Bolsonaro told Reuters that he had never recieved the vaccine: "It's a selective investigation. I'm calm," he said. "The world knows that I didn't take the vaccine."

Bolsonaro, dubbed the “Trump of the Tropics,” and aides allegedly fiddled with the health ministry's database ahead of a December 2022 visit to the U.S., which required proof of vaccination for entry. He earned comparisons to Trump even before his followers stormed Brazil’s Congress, Supreme Court and presidential palace last year in an echo of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.

The charges, released by Brazil’s Supreme Court, marked the first criminal indictment of the former president, who railed against vaccines while in office, even as the coronavirus killed nearly 700,000 Brazilians.

Bolsonaro barred from office for abusing his power

Bolsonaro had no immediate comment.

The country’s high court last year barred the far-right firebrand from running for office until 2030, ruling he had abused his power during the 2022 campaign and cast unfounded doubts on the country's electronic voting system. He was endorsed in that election by former President Donald Trump, an enthusiastic backer.

"He is a wonderful man, and has my Complete & Total Endorsement!!!" Trump wrote on Truth Social.

More: Brazil investigates after storming of Congress by backers of Bolsonaro, known as 'Trump of Tropics'

A riot in the Brazilian capital

Thousands of Bolsonaro’s supporters rioted in the capital, Brasilia, on Jan. 8, 2023, soon after the inauguration of President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva, trashing the Supreme Court and other government buildings.

Investigators are probing Bolsonaro’s possible link to those riots, as well as allegations that he tried to sneak two sets of expensive diamond jewelry into Brazil and prevent them from being incorporated into the presidency's public collection. He has asserted his innocence in all the investigations while claiming to be a victim of political persecution.

Brazil's prosecutor-general's office hasn’t yet decided if it will file charges against Bolsonaro in the fake vaccine case.

An anti-vax president, but Brazilians favor vaccines

As the coronavirus scythed its way across the globe, Bolsonaro vowed not to get vaccinated, and his government ignored offers to receive the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. In September 2021, he flouted a vaccination requirement at the U.N. General Assembly in New York. Several members of the Brazilian delegation later tested positive.

Fifteen months later, following his reelection loss, Bolsonaro was on a plane to Miami, allegedly with a fake vaccination certificate. Police said the nurse listed in the records as having administered the shot denied doing so and was no longer working at the center at the time of the supposed vaccination, Reuters reported.

More than 89% of Brazilians have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, according to the Johns Hopkins University Coronavirus Resource Center.

Contributing: Associated Press

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Jair Bolsonaro faked his COVID-19 shot, Brazil police say