RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to the Ministry of Health’s vaccine delivery schedule, released last week, 32.9 million doses of Covid-19 vaccines are expected for this month, approximately 27% more than the April quota.
The calculation considers only vaccines previously approved by the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA). They are the Oxford/AstraZeneca consortium vaccine delivered by Fiocruz and also through the Covax Facility program, linked to the World Health Organization (WHO); the CoronaVac, from Sinovac Life Science in partnership with the Butantan Institute and Pfizer, delivered by the pharmaceutical company itself and through the Covax Facility.
Fiocruz, the largest supplier, with 20.5 million doses, has announced that it would have all the necessary material in stock to produce the vaccines promised by the end of this month. The AstaZeneca doses sent by the Covax Facility have reached the country. The Butantan released 1 million on Thursday, May 6th, and plans to deliver another 4.1 million doses by May 14th. Extra doses of this vaccine, however, will only occur with the delivery of more Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API), the vaccine’s raw material.
The monthly schedule planned by the Ministry of Health has suffered several quota reductions in recent months. It was announced that in April, over 55 million doses would be delivered to Brazilians – a figure far from the 25.9 million actually sent to the states. The changes are related to a shortage of APIs and the lack of approval of vaccines – such as the Sputnik V – by ANVISA.