The Butantan Institute, responsible in Brazil for the production of the only vaccine used so far in the South American country, asked Tuesday, January 19 for the help of President Jair Bolsonaro to facilitate the shipment from China of the principle asset used in its manufacture.
Read also: Covid-19: the Brazilian variant suspected in the new disaster that hits the city of Manaus
The Brazilian health authority, Anvisa, on Sunday authorized the emergency use of CoronaVac, as well as the British vaccine AstraZeneca, which is however still not available in Brazil.
Vaccination started in Brazil with the distribution of six million doses of CoronaVac and the Butantan Institute requested authorization for the use of 4.8 million additional doses.
The uncertainty remains once these doses are administered in this country of 212 million inhabitants where 211,000 people have already been killed since the start of the coronavirus epidemic.
The Brazilian president has criticized on several occasions the CoronaVac, a vaccine made in China and promoted by the governor of the state of Sao Paulo, Joao Doria, one of his main opponents.
Jair Bolsonaro is also opposed to China, as is his ally incumbent US President Donald Trump.
"The vaccine belongs to Brazil, not to a governor,"
said Bolsonaro in particular.
Read also: In Brazil, Bolsonaro on an anti-vaccine campaign
Taking it literally, the president of the Butantan institute, Dimas Covas, urged him to contact China, whose help is essential for the manufacture of this vaccine.
"If the vaccine belongs to Brazil, then our president has the dignity to defend it and to ask for help from his foreign ministry in discussions with the Chinese government
,
"
said Dimas Covas.
The institute has reached an agreement with the Chinese laboratory Sinovac to receive a sufficient quantity of the active principle of this vaccine, in order to manufacture 40 million additional doses, he told AFP.
This shipment is however subject to the agreement of the Chinese government, added the institute.
Brazil is also expecting two million doses of the vaccine produced by the British laboratory AstraZeneca, in collaboration with the University of Oxford, from India where it is manufactured.
These doses were due to arrive last week but the Indian government, which has started a massive vaccination campaign, has not given its agreement and no new date has been put forward.
/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/prisa/KMEYMJKESBAZBE4MRBAM4TGHIQ.jpg)
