RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The governor of São Paulo, João Doria, confirmed, on Wednesday, July 7, the purchase of an extra batch of 4 million doses of the vaccine Coronavac, developed by the Chinese laboratory Sinovac, exclusively for the state. Doria had already announced the intention to purchase 30 million doses, but the agreement was still pending. The amount was not disclosed.
“The state of São Paulo bought an extra 4 million doses directly from the Sinovac laboratory. The government had the intention to purchase a total of 30 million doses. 2.7 million arrive today [Wednesday, July 7] in the state. And until July 26 another 1.3 million doses will arrive,” said the governor at a press conference at the Bandeirantes Palace.
Also according to Doria, this amount comes from China ready and does not require processing by the Butantan Institute. The government’s intention is to further accelerate the immunization of the population. Despite saying that the calendar will be advanced, the governor did not inform any date. For now, the goal of applying at least the first dose to the entire adult population over 18 years of age by September 15 remains in place.
So far, the state has applied a total of 27 million doses. Considering the people who were immunized with both doses, or with the single-dose, São Paulo has 14% of the population protected against Covid-19.
BUTANTAN ANTICIPATES DELIVERY
The Butantan Institute will anticipate the delivery of all the 100 million doses of Coronavac contracted by the Ministry of Health. The forecast was to conclude the shipments on September 30, and now all the shipments will be made by August 31.
The laboratory linked to the São Paulo government delivered 53 million doses of the vaccine. Next week Butantan will deliver a batch with 10 million doses. On July 14, another batch of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API), capable of producing 10 million doses, is expected to arrive at Butantan.
“With this quantity, we will surpass the 100 million doses foreseen. We will have a surplus of vaccines that can be sent to the State of São Paulo and other states that are interested”, said Dimas Covas, president of the institute.