Covax Facility still fails to deliver vaccines contracted by Brazil – Health Minister

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Covax Facility consortium has not yet been able to deliver the quota of Covax-19 vaccines contracted by Brazil, Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said on Friday, June 18.

Brazil is expecting to be supplied with 42.5 million doses this year. However, Queiroga said the government’s other contracts will ensure the immunization of the entire population over 18 years of age by December.

An initiative led by the World Health Organization (WHO), the Covax Consortium also comprises the Coalition for Promoting Innovations in Epidemic Preparedness (CEPI), the Global Alliance for Vaccines and Immunization (GAVI), the United Nations Children’s Fund (UNICEF), and the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO).

Queiroga stressed that the federal government has a contract with Pfizer for 100 million vaccines by September and another 100 million by December.

The vaccine is hope, the Minister added. “Brazil has now distributed 110 million doses and this is not little. We are among the countries that distribute the most vaccines in the world,” he said while taking part in a press conference in Rio de Janeiro alongside Mayor Eduardo Paes.

Queiroga added that government initiatives have promoted the supply of vaccines and mentioned talks between President Jair Bolsonaro and Pfizer.

“We are currently experiencing a vaccine war. There is a good war and a bad war, and the good war is the harmony of the tripartite management,” he said.

The Minister, himself a physician, endorsed Bolsonaro’s challenges with respect to the scientific evidence of vaccines, arguing that they are new. “We have to challenge everything. We must research everything. The impacts of vaccines on children and pregnant women are being analyzed in studies,” he said.

Also according to Queiroga, it will be necessary to assess if in 2022 a new immunization will be required and, to this end, the mass vaccination research on the island of Paquetá, in the capital of Rio de Janeiro, should help provide answers.

The Minister also advocated the increase in testing, which is low in Brazil. The time is now different, he said. “We will work towards testing millions of Brazilians per month, symptomatic and asymptomatic,” the Minister said.

He also endorsed Bolsonaro’s recurring statement that it is impossible to dissociate the economy from health. The president has very high expectations about vaccination, according to him, and having observed the situations in the United States and Europe, which have relaxed the use of masks – after having vaccinated a relevant part of their populations – he asked for an evaluation of the use of the protective item in Brazil – which he typically waives. “We will do it.”

Moreover, Queiroga said that the president recommended a dialogue with all governors, irrespective of their party. He said he hopes to broaden the partnership with Rio de Janeiro. “We will make Rio de Janeiro a successful case of harmony between institutions, state, municipalities and institutions,” he said.

“We have discussed with Paulo Guedes [Economy Minister], how to strengthen the budget [for Health], which may be achieved through extraordinary resources,” he said. The problems in federal hospitals are not new, he added, advocating a change in management. “Hospitals in Rio’s federal network are old, we will implement these changes in the short term to improve efficiency,” he pledged.