RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On Wednesday morning, January 6th, President Jair Bolsonaro tweeted news that the Ministry of Health has suspended the purchase of syringes because of high prices asked by manufacturers.
In the tweet, the President also said that states and municipalities are in sufficient stock to begin vaccination against Covid-19.
Bolsonaro further said that countries that have already begun to immunize their populations have received very few doses of the vaccine.
“Around 44 countries are vaccinating, however Pfizer sold only 10,000 doses to some of them. Hence the media’s fallacy as though they were vaccinating the entire population,” reads the text. Next, the President says that a minimum percentage of residents of these countries was vaccinated: China, 0.31%; Russia, 0.55%; UK, 1.39%; USA, 1.28%.
Bolsonaro says that the price of syringes skyrocketed after the Ministry of Health disclosed its intention of buying the product. He therefore said that the body has decided to suspend purchases “until the prices return to normal”.
He also says that states and municipalities have enough syringes to begin immunization, “as the amount of vaccines at first is not large”.