Brazil’s Bolsonaro writes to PM Modi, asks to expedite COVID-19 vaccine shipment

Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in which he requested the latter to expedite the shipment of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, AFP reported. The Latin American nation has planned to import two million doses of the vaccine produced by India’s Serum Institute (SII), the world’s largest manufacturer of vaccines by volume.

The early delivery would allow the immediate implementation of the vaccination program, Bolsonaro said, as per an AFP report.

AstraZeneca on Friday applied for regulatory approval of its coronavirus vaccine, which it had developed jointly with the University of Oxford. 

Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac had also applied for approval for its coronavirus vaccine. The application was submitted by Butantan Institute, a public health center in Sao Paulo that is working with Sinovac to test and produce its CoronaVac vaccine.

Federal health regulator Anvisa now has 10 days to respond to the applications, though it said that could include asking the sponsors for more information.

The applications came a day after officials announced CoronaVac had shown the effectiveness of 78% in clinical trials in Brazil, news that Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria called “historic.”

Sinovac has not yet released worldwide results from the final stage of clinical trials, which are also being carried out in Chile, Indonesia and Turkey.

As for the Oxford vaccine, results published in December found it was 62% effective for volunteers given two full doses and 90% effective for those given a half dose followed by a full dose.

But both vaccines appear to be short of the more than 90% effectiveness reported for the vaccines from US pharmaceutical firms Pfizer and Moderna.

The CoronaVac and Oxford vaccines have been caught up in a political battle in Brazil between Doria and far-right President Jair Bolsonaro, likely opponents in presidential elections next year.

The federal government initially passed on CoronaVac, which Bolsonaro has derided as “Joao Doria’s Chinese vaccine.”

But after struggling to secure enough doses for Brazil’s population of 212 million, the health ministry announced Thursday it had signed a deal with the Butantan Institute for 100 million doses of the vaccine for use nationwide.

Also read: Brazil Clinics to deal with Bharat Biotech to obtain COVID-19 vaccine

Brazil has the second-highest death toll in the pandemic after the United States, with more than 200,000 people killed by Covid-19.

The government has yet to set a start date for its vaccination campaign, a delay that has drawn scathing criticism from Bolsonaro opponents.