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(Adds regulators requesting more information on vaccines)
By Gabriel Stargardter and Ricardo Brito
RIO DE JANEIRO/BRASILIA, Jan 14 (Reuters) - Brazil aims to
begin nationwide COVID-19 vaccinations on Jan. 20, the head of
the national mayor's association said on Thursday, as Britain
banned arrivals from the country over fears of a new homegrown
coronavirus variant.
President Jair Bolsonaro, who has been lambasted for
downplaying the severity of the world's second-deadliest
COVID-19 outbreak, is under mounting pressure to begin
vaccinations as a second wave of infections surpasses the first.
He also faces the prospect of international isolation after
Britain said it would ban travelers from Brazil, several other
South American countries and Portugal over fears of the new
virus variant.
Japan's health ministry said on Sunday it had detected the
new variant in four travelers from Brazil's northern Amazonas
state. This one features 12 mutations, including one also found
in highly infections variants recently discovered in Britain and
South Africa that have begun circulating around the globe.
Researchers from the Oswaldo Cruz Amazônia Foundation said
this week the new variant found in Japan likely appeared in
northern Brazil between December and January. They said it could
be contributing to the sharp rise in cases in Amazonas state,
although they were conducting more studies to ascertain if it is
more contagious than earlier versions of the coronavirus.
The state of Amazonas, where nearly 6,000 people have died
from COVID-19, is now suffering a devastating second wave that
is pushing emergency services to a breaking point.
Jarbas Barbosa, assistant director of the Pan American
Health Organization, was not ready to pin the surge in
infections in Amazonas on the new variant.
"It is happening also in many different cities and states,
probably due to the holidays, the summer, with more travels and
people going out, and the relaxation of social distancing
measures," Barbosa said.
VACCINE ROLLOUT
Jonas Donizette, the president of the national mayor's
association, said in a statement on Thursday that vaccinations
would begin on Wednesday if all goes as the government plans.
"If it's not on the 20th, for whatever logistical problem,
it will be on Thursday 21," he wrote. "Inoculations will begin
with 8 million doses, distributed to 5 million Brazilians."
The government is planning a Jan. 19 ceremony to mark the
start of inoculations, according to a source involved in the
plan.
While the government has declined to give an official start
date for vaccinations, it has said inoculations could not begin
before Jan. 20. The Health Ministry did not respond to a request
for comment.
Two vaccines - one made by AstraZeneca Plc and
another developed by China's Sinovac Biotech - will form
the bedrock of the government's vaccination plan. Both have
applied for emergency use in Brazil, with health regulator
Anvisa expected to decide on Sunday whether to authorize them.
Anvisa said on Thursday it had asked for missing information
from Brazilian biomedical centers that are partnered with the
vaccine developers, Fiocruz and Butantan. In the case of
Butantan, Anvisa requested additional efficacy data from Phase
III trials of the Chinese vaccine done in Brazil.
Vaccination of the country's population will take 16 months
at most, Deputy Health Minister Elcio Franco said at a news
conference on Wednesday.
Brazil has already imported 6 million doses of the Sinovac
vaccine and is sending a plane to pick up 2 million doses of the
AstraZeneca vaccine, made by India's Serum Institute.
The Health Ministry said the plane's departure from Recife
in northeastern Brazil had been delayed until late on Friday.
(Reporting by Gabriel Stargardter and Ricardo Brito; Additional
reporting by Pedro Fonseca and Eduardo Simoes
Editing by Nick Macfie and Bill Berkrot)
