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(Recasts with China ambassador comments)
By Eduardo Simões
SAO PAULO, Jan 26 (Reuters) - The issues holding up vaccine
supply exports from China to Brazil are due to technical, rather
than political obstacles, China's ambassador said on Tuesday, as
delays to Brazil's vaccine rollout began to grow.
Some have speculated that China, which for years has been
the butt of attacks by Brazil's far-right President Jair
Bolsonaro, may have stalled approving the exports as some form
of political vengeance. Brazil is waiting for ingredients from
China needed to produce two vaccines locally - one from China's
Sinovac Biotech Ltd and another from AstraZeneca Plc
.
But speaking at a press conference in Sao Paulo, Yang
Wanming sought to scotch those rumors.
"Regarding authorization for the export of vaccine supplies,
I believe that we all know very well that this is a technical
issue and not a political one," Yang Wanming said, without
giving more details.
"Vaccines are a weapon to contain the pandemic and guarantee
the health of the people and not a political instrument. China
attaches great importance to cooperation in the development of
the vaccine and we would like to consolidate cooperation."
Yang Wanming said China is committed to helping Brazil
after a vaccine developed by Sinovac was late-stage tested in
Sao Paulo state. The Sinovac shot is currently Brazil's main
hope of slowing the world's second deadliest coronavirus
outbreak.
The active ingredient needed to produce 100 million doses of
AstraZeneca's vaccine, which will be made at the federally
funded Fiocruz Institute, has yet to leave China, adding to
delays to Bolsonaro's widely criticized vaccine rollout.
"The company continues to work to release the lots of
(active ingredient) for the vaccine as soon as possible,"
AstraZeneca said in a statement.
Brazilian biomedical center Butantan expects supplies for
around 8.5 million doses of the Sinovac vaccine to arrive by
Feb. 3, its director said on Tuesday.
Butantan Director Dimas Covas said he hoped the initial
shipment, enough to fill and finish some 8.5 million doses,
would be followed by a similar load delivered shortly after. He
also said Butantan planned to have a factory fully producing the
Chinese vaccine by early next year.
(Reporting by Jamie McGeever; Editing by Richard Chang)
