Ministry of Health Promises More Vaccine doses in February than Butatan Can Deliver
Upcoming shipments of vaccine against Covid-19 will to the states on the 23rd, says Health
Amid a lack of Covid-19 vaccine doses, leading some cities to interrupt their campaigns, the Minister of Health, Eduardo Pazuello, informed governors that the ministry will deliver 11.3 million doses in February. The volume, however, is above that predicted by the laboratories that supply the vaccines.
According to the health ministry, 2 million doses of the Oxford / AstraZeneca vaccine will be imported from India by Fiocruz. In February, the Ministry of Health foresees 9.3 million doses of the Coronavac vaccine, developed by the Chinese company Sinovac and produced in Brazil by the Butantan Institute.
Earlier, however, the institute's director, Dimas Covas, told a press conference that Butantan will produce 426 thousand doses a day from next Tuesday (23) for eight days, that is, 3.4 million until March 2, less than what is in the ministry's forecast. Of this total, 2.6 million doses will be produced by the end of February. With what was delivered earlier this month, the sum reaches almost 3.7 million in February.
Translated by Kiratiana Freelon