Brazil’s Health Ministry says it has distributed 90 million Covid vaccine doses

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – On May 18, Brazil reached the 90 million-dose mark of vaccines against Covid-19 distributed in the country, the Ministry of Health reported on Twitter.

According to the Ministry, between last Thursday, May 13 and Wednesday, May 19, a total of 13 million vaccine doses will have been distributed to states and municipalities. Of these doses, there are 8.3 million from AstraZeneca, 4 million from CoronaVac and 647,000 from Pfizer.

Once in possession of the vaccines, the states are responsible for dividing and delivering the batches to municipalities.

According to the Ministry of Health, doses have been sent for the vaccination of 15 of the 28 priority groups established by the National Operational Plan for Vaccination against Covid-19 (PNO). To date, over 53.6 million doses have been administered.

Production stymied

The production of vaccines against Covid-19 in Brazil has been hampered by a lack of the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API). On May 17, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation’s Institute of Technology in Immunobiologicals (Bio-Manguinhos/Fiocruz) reported that a new shipment of API is expected to be delivered next Saturday, May 22.

The raw material is imported from China, produced by Wuxi Biologics. After the next delivery, another shipment is expected to arrive on May 29.

With the landing of the two API shipments in Brazil, Fiocruz says that the delivery of vaccines to the National Immunization Program will be guaranteed for the first three weeks of June.

The Butantan Institute reported that a shipment of raw material for the CoronaVac will land in Brazil on May 26. The production of vaccines against Covid-19 at the Butantan has been suspended since last Friday, May 14, due to a shortage of raw materials.

According to the Institute, a batch with 4,000 liters of API is expected to be delivered, enough for the production of 7 million vaccine doses. On May 18, however, China reduced the shipment to 3,000 liters of API, enough for only 5 million doses.