Coronavirus: Brazil approves emergency use of vaccines from AstraZeneca and China’s Sinovac
- Health regulator Anvisa kicks off immunisations as the country’s Covid-19 enters a deadly second wave
- 54-year old nurse Monica Calazans becomes first person to be inoculated in the country, receiving China’s CoronaVac shot
Brazilian health regulator Anvisa on Sunday approved emergency use of Covid-19 vaccines from China’s Sinovac Biotech and Britain’s AstraZeneca, kicking off immunisations as the pandemic enters a deadly second wave.
Minutes after Anvisa’s board voted unanimously to approve both vaccines, Monica Calazans, a 54-year-old nurse in Sao Paulo, became the first person to be inoculated in Brazil, receiving the Chinese vaccine known as CoronaVac.
President Jair Bolsonaro, a coronavirus sceptic who has refused to take a vaccine himself, has been under growing pressure to start inoculations in Brazil, which has lost more than 209,000 to Covid-19 – the worst death toll outside the United States.
However, delays with vaccine shipments and testing results have held up vaccinations in the country, once a global leader in mass immunisations and now a regional laggard after peers such as Chile and Mexico started giving shots last month.
02:29
Brazil study shows China’s Sinovac vaccine less effective than earlier data on the Covid-19 shots
Bolsonaro’s government was planning to kick off a national immunisation programme this week but is still waiting on shipments of the AstraZeneca vaccine at the centre of its plans. That has added to public frustration and offered a political rival the chance to upstage the right-wing president.
Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria, who oversees the Butantan biomedical centre that partnered with Sinovac in Brazil, said widespread vaccinations could start immediately.