CGU will release Bolsonaro vaccination after alleged fraud – 03/13/2023 – Power

The CGU (Comptroller General of the Union) determined that the Ministry of Health disclose the vaccination card of former President Jair Bolsonaro (PL). The information will be public after the body concludes an investigation into the alleged insertion of false data in the then representative’s immunization portfolio.

The decision was taken by the Comptroller after the information was denied by the Ministry of Health. After successive appeals, it reached the body, which gives the final word on access to public information. The legal deadline for Health to appeal the decision ended this Monday (13).

In its opinion, the institution points out two reasons for granting access to the data. First, that Bolsonaro himself has already shown his card. With that, there would be no reason to keep the data confidential, since its owner would have made it public.

In addition, continues the CGU, “access to information proving the authenticity of the statements made voluntarily by the former head of state, with regard to his vaccination status, has a general and preponderant public interest, as they influenced public policy on immunization of the Brazilian State during the health crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic”.

This line of thought had already been made explicit by the Minister of the CGU, Vinicius de Carvalho, in an interview with Sheet in early February of this year.

“There is a discussion when there is a public vaccination policy in the middle of a pandemic. People were encouraged or discouraged to get vaccinated and this had an impact on the contamination rate, on deaths. In a situation like this, is there any public interest in a public authority’s vaccination card? The discussion is legitimate and the decision will be taken by the technical area of ​​the CGU”, he said at the time.

Now, the CGU needs to complete a summary preliminary investigation that investigates a possible insertion of false data in the Ministry of Health system that stores information on vaccination. The objective is “to observe the authenticity and integrity of the information eventually held by the public body”.

Only after that will the data be passed on to the person who made the appeal.

The CGU’s decision to break the confidentiality of the ex-president’s vaccination card was taken on February 15, after reviewing the case, but it had not yet been formalized due to the need to investigate possible tampering with the former president’s document.

A Sheet had asked for the case to be re-examined after the body’s deliberation, but the Ministry of Health denied the release of the content as it considered a possible violation of the General Data Protection Law.

However, still in the Bolsonaro administration, to avoid denials based on the LGPD, the Comptroller had already formulated an understanding that the legislation is compatible with the LAI (Law on Access to Information).

The answer is dated the 24th —thus, after the CGU’s initial decision.

Despite the Comptroller’s understanding, the ministry used another justification by denying the request, made via the Access to Information Act, with the aim of gaining access to the former president’s vaccination card with data on immunization against Covid.

According to the folder, “the data requested, as they refer to health, linked to a natural person, in accordance with the General Law for the Protection of Personal Data – LGPD (item 2 of article 5), are considered sensitive personal data”.

The folder cites several hypotheses about the possible disclosure of data of this nature, such as the consent of the person responsible, in case studies, data necessary for the execution of public policies, among others.

“In our understanding, the claim in question does not fit any of the hypotheses legally established in the General Law for the Protection of Personal Data for the processing of data relating to health, linked to a natural person”, says the folder.