RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) will fail to meet the deadline to deliver 100 million doses of AstraZeneca s vaccine against Covid-19 to the National Immunization Program (PNI) by the end of this month, but maintains its commitment to close the year with 200 million doses delivered and another 180 million doses in 2022, said Mauricio Zuma, director of Fiocruz s Biomanguinhos vaccine production unit.
Zuma said that the 100 million dose mark should be reached by the end of August, a month later than initially planned. The delay is a consequence of the late . . .
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Brazil let 70m COVID-19 shots get away and sealed its fate
By Julia Leite, Andrew Rosati and Simone Iglesias / Bloomberg
In August last year, when Brazil had emerged as among the worst-hit nations by the COVID-19 pandemic, Pfizer Inc offered the Brazilian Ministry of Health to set aside as many as 70 million doses of the vaccine it was developing. It got no answer. So it made the offer again. And then a third time.
The next month, the company’s former Brazil head, Carlos Murillo, told the Brazilian Congress that Pfizer’s global chief put the offer in writing to Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro with copies to the vice president, chief of staff, ministers of health and economy, and ambassador to the US.
Last August, when Brazil had emerged as among the worst hit nations by Covid, Pfizer Inc. offered the health ministry to set aside as many as 70 million doses of the vaccine it was developing. It got no answer. So it made the offer again. And then a third time.