RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil may receive almost 563 million vaccine doses by the end of this year. On Monday, March 15th, the Ministry of Health updated the list of contracts signed with pharmaceutical companies and included 100 million Pfizer vaccine doses, from the United States, and 38 million from Belgian Janssen.
This brings the total to 562.9 million doses under contract. Another 13 million doses from the North American Moderna are still under negotiation.
Eduardo Pazuello added that the transfer of the vaccine technology developed by the British Oxford University and by the Anglo-Swedish AstraZeneca to Fiocruz is at an advanced stage.
The Ministry expects to vaccinate all people in priority groups, who are more likely to develop a severe form of Covid-19, by the end of May. As of June, vaccination will be extended to Brazilians aged 18 and older. The goal is to vaccinate the whole population still this year.
Surplus vaccine doses will be used in a potential immunization campaign next year.
Eduardo Pazuello highlighted the severity of the second wave of the pandemic in Brazil and called for unity to prevent the collapse of healthcare in the states.
Also on Monday, Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA) experts met with representatives of Chinese CanSino pharmaceutical company, Brazilian Precisa, and India’s Bharat Biotech. They showed interest in delivering new vaccines to Brazil.
The regulatory agency introduced the rules for securing emergency use authorization or health registration to entrepreneurs. It is up to the company to decide which type of application will be submitted.