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By Lisandra Paraguassu
BRASILIA, March 12 (Reuters) - Brazil's health regulator
Anvisa on Friday said it has given final approval for
AstraZeneca Plc's COVID-19 vaccine developed with Oxford
University, which will be manufactured domestically by the
Fiocruz biomedical institute.
The AstraZeneca vaccine is already being administered in
Brazil, but is registered only for emergency use, and the doses
have been imported from India.
In an online address, Anvisa director Gustavo Mendes said
that the doses manufactured by Fiocruz are expected to be
delivered to the Health Ministry later this month.
Confronted with a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases and record
deaths, the Brazilian government is trying to accelerate
vaccinations, as health systems throughout the country come
close to collapsing.
Brazil has ordered more than 200 million doses of the
AstraZeneca and Sinovac shots, while dragging its feet
on others. President Jair Bolsonaro said this week that Brazil
will have 400 million vaccine doses available by the end of the
year.
Less than 4% of Brazil's 210 million residents have been
inoculated against COVID-19 due to a string of missteps by the
Health Ministry, which Bolsonaro has stocked with military men
with little public health experience.
Mendes also said on Friday that Anvisa expects to receive
test results from AstraZeneca on the efficacy of its vaccine
against new variants of the virus, including P1, by June.
Preliminary studies suggest the AstraZeneca vaccine will
protect against the new P1 variant, Fiocruz said on Monday,
confirming a Reuters report last week.
Mendes said he sees no obstacle to approving the vaccine
developed by Moderna once Anvisa receives an official
registration request.
(Reporting by Lisandra Paraguassu and Pedro Fonseca
Writing by Jamie McGeever
Editing by Jonathan Oatis)
