Protesters are calling on Brazil's president to step down after members of his administration worked to illegally profit from COVID-19 vaccine purchase

• Protesters in Brazil are calling on President Jair Bolsonaro to step down, the AP reported.
• Members of his administration allegedly tried to illegally profit from COVID-19 vaccine deals.
• He is being investigated for knowing about the illegal activity.

Protests are spreading across Brazil as residents call for President Jair Bolsonaro to step down following allegations that members of his administration tried to illegally profit off of a COVID-19 vaccine deal, the Associated Press reported.

On Friday, Supreme Court Justice Rosa Weber authorized a criminal investigation into his response to the allegations.

The investigation is looking into whether or not Bolsonaro delayed or didn't take any action when the allegations were brought to his attention.

Luis Ricardo Miranda, the chief of the Health Ministry's import division, said he and his brother, lawmaker Luis Miranda, spoke to Bolsonaro after he was pressured to sign off on the import of millions of vaccines from Indian pharmaceutical Bharat Biotech, which showed invoice irregularities, including a $45 million upfront payment to a Singapore-based company.

Bolsonaro told him he would tell the Federal Police, but the police never got a request, the AP reported.

Eventually, Bolsonaro had the Miranda brothers investigated and his secretary-general of the presidency, Onyx Lorenzoni, said they presented falsified documents.

Bolsonaro has been criticized for his overall response to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has so far infected more than 18 million Brazilians and killed over 523,000, according to data from Johns Hopkins University.

The New York Times reported that more than 100 lawmakers across multiple parties drafted impeachment articles against Bolsonaro last week.

"Every crime committed by the president is serious, but this one is even more serious because it involves lives," Joice Hasselmann, a member of Congress from São Paulo told the Times."Brazil can't stand another year with Bolsonaro."