SAO PAULO, Jan 23 (Reuters) - Brazil's federally funded
Fiocruz Institute said on Saturday it had begun distributing 2
million ready-to-use AstraZeneca PLC COVID-19 vaccines
after they arrived in the country from India on Friday.
Brazil's government has a deal with AstraZeneca to produce
up to 100 million doses of its vaccine locally at Rio de
Janeiro's Fiocruz Institute, but delivery of the active
ingredient needed to manufacture them has been plagued by delays
from China.
As a result, AstraZeneca agreed to supply the government
with 2 million ready-to-use doses made in India. After a major
diplomatic effort, that included a letter from Brazil's
President Jair Bolsonaro to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi,
those shots arrived on Friday.
Until now, Brazil's widely criticized vaccine rollout has
depended on a shot developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd
vaccine in partnership with Sao Paulo's Butantan Institute.
Bolsonaro had previously decried the Chinese shot as being
useless, but his government is becoming increasingly reliant on
it to tame the world's second most deadly coronavirus outbreak
after the United States.
The far-right former army captain is under growing pressure
for his handling of the rollout, which has been plagued by
delays and a lack of vaccines, just as a brutal second wave
gathers steam.
(Reporting by Paula Laier; editing by Diane Craft)
Astrazeneca (AZN)
