COVID-19: Brazil signs deal with India's Bharat Biotech for 20 million vaccine doses

Brazil’s health ministry has signed a deal with Indian pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech for the purchase of 20 million doses of the Covaxin Vaccines. However, it is yet to be approved by the local regulators. According to the reports by AP, the administration of President Jair Bolsonaro said the first 8 million Covaxin shots made by Brazilian company Precisa Medicamentos will arrive in March. Also, another batch of 8 million doses is expected for April and in May. 

Current situation in Brazil 

As of now, Brazil has vaccinated just 4 per cent of its population. Some cities had to stop the vaccination process due to shortages. Brazil’s second-largest city, Rio de Janeiro halted its mass vaccination campaign after it ran out of COVID-19 shots and scrambled to demand assistance from Brazil’s federal government. The country had earlier pledged to manufacture 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca, domestically, amid the supply shortages and the vaccination shipment delays from the manufacturers. 

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Many other states, such as Salvador, in the northeastern state of Bahia, and Cuiaba, in Mato Grosso state, had to adapt to similar strategies after the shots ran out and people were turned away from their second routine jab, Brazilian newspaper O Globo reported. Mayors and governors, in turn, criticised Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro for the lackadaisical response to the coronavirus pandemic, whose severity he had downplayed since the start. The Brazilian president had also, for days, mocked about the efficacy of the vaccines. Brazil’s Health Ministry this week struck an agreement with Sao Paulo state’s Butantan Institute to procure 54 million doses in addition to a contract for 46 million doses signed on Jan. 7.

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Covaxin effective against variants 

The interim results of the ongoing clinical trials indicated that the Indian COVID-19 vaccines would be effective against the mutated virus strains reported from the United Kingdom, South Africa and Brazil, said the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR). “The interim analysis report should be out in a week", it added. Dr Balram Bhargava, Director General of ICMR said that the third clinical trial of Covaxin BB152 had been completed as all the 25,800 volunteers involved in the exercise had been administered both doses. In an international webinar “Kerala Health: Making the SDG A Reality", organised by the Department of Health and Family Welfare, Government of Kerala, Bhargava informed that a paper on Covaxin’s neutralisation potential against the UK strain has been accepted for publication.

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