More countries lining up to get Sinovac COVID-19 vaccines

Brazil's government and Thailand's Cabinet will purchase the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine while Indonesia greenlighted emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by China-based Sinovac Biotech Ltd, according to the media.

Brazil's government signed a deal with Sao Paulo's Butantan Institute to buy the full output of a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine it is producing, the institute said, after announcing strong efficacy trial data. The announcement came shortly after the country's COVID death toll passed 20,000.

Brazilian state health officials announced on Thursday that the vaccine candidate made by China's Sinovac is 78 percent effective in protecting against the coronavirus. More than 12,000 health workers participated in the study, which detected 218 cases of COVID-19 – about 160 of those among people who received a placebo rather than the actual vaccine.

Indonesia's Food and Drug Authority on Monday greenlighted emergency use of the COVID-19 vaccine produced by China-based Sinovac Biotech Ltd, with vaccinations of high-risk groups expected to start later this week, including healthcare workers and other civil servants.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo on Wednesday received the first COVID-19 vaccine shot.

The Cabinet of Thailand approved a budget of Bt1.3 billion ($57 million) to procure 2 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine made by China's Sinovac.

The Sinovac vaccine will arrive in three batches -- the first 200,000 doses arriving in February, 800,000 in March, and another 1 million in April, stated the Health Ministry.