Protesters took to the streets in Brazil demanding the impeachment of President Jair Bolsonaro and more vaccines to fight the coronavirus pandemic, as the country faces the world's second deadliest outbreak after the United States.

On Friday, Supreme Court Justice Rosa Weber authorised the opening of an investigation into Bolsonaro over alleged irregularities in procurement of vaccine developed in India.

The protests were originally scheduled for July 24, but were brought forward after evidence of irregularities related to that vaccine deal were presented before a Senate committee investigating the federal government's handling of the pandemic, Reuters reported.

By 2pm local time, protests had drawn thousands of people in at least 13 state capitals, according to local media reports.