Brazil’s Ministry of Health expects to have at least 150 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines available in the first half of 2021, with a third or more coming from a Chinese company, despite the president’s early skepticism.
Arnaldo Medeiros, a health ministry official, also said at a congressional meeting on Tuesday that an initial agreement to purchase 46m doses of vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech in China could soon be extended to 100m .
Sao Paulo State Government Butantan Institute is expected to present data from its final trial process Sinovac vaccine, CoronaVac, on Wednesday, which has already begun to give up the filling and finishing production line.
chairman Jair Bolsonaro detached that vaccine, questioning its “origin” and trading beards with the governor of Sao Paulo João Doria, a political rival.
But the health ministry has been eager to secure its supply as the global rush for vaccines heats up.
The biomedical center of the federal government Fiocruz is also expected to begin filling and finalizing the AstraZeneca vaccine in the coming months, delivering the first photos on February 8. The ministry is waiting for 104 m doses by June, officials said.
Separately, the ministry is in talks with Pfizer to receive doses of 8 million vaccine that he developed together with the German company BioNTech in the first half of 2021.
No Covid-19 vaccine has yet been approved for use in Brazil. The Pfizer / BioNTech image has been licensed in several countries, including USA, Great Britain and Canada.
Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly downplayed the pandemic, said he would not receive any vaccines, sparking widespread skepticism about Brazilians’ shootings. However, Brazilian public health authorities have said they will use any vaccine approved by regulators.
On Tuesday, Brazil registered 55,202 new cases of coronavirus, reaching 7,318,821. Deaths increased by 968 to 188,259.