Brazil began distributing nearly 2 million doses of AstraZeneca coronavirus vaccine on Saturday, Brazilian health officials said.
Conformable Reuters, The federally funded Fiocruz Institute in Brazil said it had begun distributing the vaccine after doses arrived in India on Friday.
While the Brazilian government currently has an agreement with AstraZeneca to produce up to 100 million doses of vaccine locally, the country has recently faced delays from China in providing the active ingredient needed to produce the vaccine.
AstraZeneca has agreed to give Brazil 2 million ready-to-use doses made in India for the government to start distributing the vaccine to its citizens, Reuters reported.
The distribution is taking place because Brazil has so far relied on the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, which Brazilian health officials said last week that it is just over 50% effective to prevent COVID-19, a much lower efficacy rate than 78% of officials in São Paulo dear previous.
However, São Paulo The Butantan Institute claims that Chinese inoculation remains 100% effective in preventing “severe” or “moderate” coronavirus infections, while mild or very mild infections remain possible after receiving the vaccine.
Brazil recorded the second highest number of deaths in the world through COVID-19, with more than 216,000 on Saturday, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. The South American country is also in third place in terms of total infections, with over 8.8 million reported.
United Kingdom earlier this month became the first country to start administering the AstraZeneca vaccine, which was developed in partnership with Oxford University. Since then, India and Pakistan have approved inoculation for use.
The test data showed that the AstraZeneca vaccine has an efficacy rate of 62% if given in two full doses 28 days apart, as it was for most participants. However, the vaccine was 90% effective when a small group in the study was mistaken for half of the initial dose followed by a full dose.
Given the questions related to the study data, US health experts initially predicted that it would take months to receive emergency approval for the AstraZeneca vaccine, although Anthony Fauci
Anthony Fauci AstraZeneca vaccine distribution begins in Brazil Biden and British Prime Minister discuss NATO, multilateralism during Sunday’s call show preview: All eyes on the Biden administration to address coronavirus MORE, the nation’s leading expert on infectious diseases, said last week that the approval of the shooting, as well as one from Johnson & Johnson, was probably “weeks away.”