Bolsonaro Says Brazil May Purchase Moderna’s Covid-19 Vaccine

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL –  President Jair Bolsonaro said on Thursday, December 31st, without providing details, that Brazil may also purchase Moderna’s vaccine against Covid-19.

During his weekly live stream, the President again said that the government will offer vaccines to the part of the population interested in being immunized against the coronavirus, and reiterated once more that he will not take the vaccine against Covid-19, explaining that he has already been infected, although there have been cases of re-infection registered.

Moderna had its vaccine authorized for emergency use by the United States on December 19th.

At the moment, Brazil is negotiating with Pfizer, which has developed a vaccine together with BioNTech, to acquire its immunizer against Covid-19. “So, in addition to Pfizer, we have another one now, Moderna, which may be purchased by Brazil,” said Bolsonaro.

“It seems that the companies will now submit documentation to ANVISA, for ANVISA to then certify them, so we can immediately arrange things and purchase these vaccines”, he added. “Also because part of the population is demanding them, so, anyone who wants the vaccine will get it, from us, free and not compulsory.”

The federal government currently has an agreement with AstraZeneca, which has developed a vaccine against Covid-19 in partnership with Oxford University.

On Thursday, Nísia Trindade, the President of Fiocruz, AstraZeneca’s partner in Brazil, told Reuters that she intends to apply for this vaccine’s emergency use at ANVISA. The AstraZeneca-Oxford immunizer had its emergency use authorized by the United Kingdom on Wednesday.

In addition to these, Brazil is also involved in testing CoronaVac, a vaccine developed by Chinese Sinovac, which will be produced in Brazil by the Butantan Institute, linked to the São Paulo state government.

The Ministry of Health reported that Brazil registered 1,074 deaths from the coronavirus on Thursday, raising the total to 194,949, the second highest death toll in the world, behind only the United States. According to the ministry, 7,675,973 people have already been infected in the country, the third highest number in the world.