Brazil to acquire 100m Chinese CoronaVac vaccines: Health Minister

BRASILIA - Brazil has signed an agreement with the Butantan Institute of Sao Paulo to purchase 100 million doses of CoronaVac COVID-19 vaccines, developed by Chinese company Sinovac, Brazilian Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said on Thursday.

A total of 46 million doses will be delivered in April and another 54 million doses by the end of the year, Pazuello said during a press conference.

All vaccines from the Butantan Institute will be incorporated into the national immunization plan, and will be fairly distributed throughout the country, the minister said.

The purchase of the CoronaVac vaccine was made possible on the basis of a decree announced by President Jair Bolsonaro on Wednesday, which allows the federal government to purchase COVID-19 vaccines in advance without the approval of the Brazilian National Health Surveillance Agency, Pazuello said.

On Thursday, the country reported a record daily count of 87,843 COVID-19 cases with 1,524 more deaths.