Brazil has 30 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine secured for April, says minister

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said on Saturday, April 4,  that Brazil has 30 million doses of vaccines against Covid-19 assured for April that will be provided by the Butantan Institute and the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), which will allow the country to meet the target of vaccinating 1 million people per day.

Queiroga had stated that Butantan and Fiocruz would deliver a smaller number of vaccines this month due to delays. Still, the two immunizer manufacturers denied problems in the schedule for April.

On Saturday, the minister confirmed the figure of 30 million and reiterated the goal of vaccinating 1 million people per day.

“The first objective is that in April, we can proceed every day with this 1 million doses. For this, let us note that the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation and the Butantan Institute assure us 30 million doses in April,” Queiroga told reporters, after participating in a virtual meeting with World Health Organization (W.H.O.) Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

“Thirty million doses are already certain; this guarantees that the target of 1 million people per day will be met,” he added.

The minister cited a survey by a consortium of media outlets that pointed out that Brazil vaccinated more than 1 million people on Thursday, totaling more than 18.8 million people vaccinated with the first dose – equivalent to 8.9% of the country’s population.

The ministry’s official data, which suffers from a delay in registration by the municipalities, indicate that 16.1 million people received the first dose, equivalent to 7.6% of the population.

The minister said that the W.H.O. meeting dealt with the possibility of bringing forward the shipment of vaccine doses to Brazil through the Covax consortium.

Despite having 30 million doses assured this month, the number is less than what had been promised by the government since the country’s regulatory agency ANVISA refused the ministry’s request to import 8 million doses of the Indian vaccine Covaxin, after the manufacturer Bharat Biotech did not obtain a certificate of good manufacturing practices from the regulatory agency. The ministry had included the vaccine in the calculations, even without any guarantee of regulatory approval.

Queiroga also reiterated the importance of adopting measures that prevent the circulation of the virus, contrary to what has regularly been advocated by President Jair Bolsonaro, who again on Saturday criticized the closure of economic activities by governors.

Source: Health Ministry