RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazil’s acting Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said on Tuesday, September 8th, that a Covid-19 vaccine would be rolled out for all Brazilians in January 2021.
“We are closing contracts with vaccine manufacturers and the forecast is that a vaccine will arrive for us starting in January next year and we will start vaccinating everyone,” Eduardo Pazuello said in a video posted to social media.
Pazuello and other ministers were responding to questions from Esther Castilho, a 10-year-old YouTuber wearing a cowboy hat. Pazuello did not give details on which vaccine would be rolled out.
Brazil has the third-worst outbreak of coronavirus globally with more than 4.1 million cases. More than 127,000 people have died from the disease, according to the official Health Ministry death toll.
The high number of cases has led several vaccine makers to seek out Brazil for clinical trials. The country is testing a potential vaccine from AstraZeneca and has signed a memorandum of understanding to receive 30 million doses of it. Testing of that vaccine was suspended on Tuesday, after an adverse reaction in one of the test subjects.
President Jair Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the severity of the coronavirus pandemic, on Tuesday repeated prior statements that vaccination would not be mandatory, although the government would still mount a vaccine campaign.
“People cannot be injected with whatever, or forced,” Bolsonaro said in an afternoon event with Brazilian doctors.