New Delhi (NVI): Disappointed with the efficacy of Chinese vaccine, Brazil is opting for India’s Covishield vaccine to protect its population from coronavirus, a move adopted also by other countries like Bolivia and Bangladesh.
Brazil, which is buying two million doses of Covishield vaccine of AstraZeneca from India, sent a special aircraft today to ferry the consignment home by Saturday, ahead of its mass vaccination campaign.
The decision of the Brazilian government coincides with concerns in the country over the efficacy of China’s CoronaVac.
Brazil, which is the second worst-hit nation globally by coronavirus and is witnessing a surge of a new variant of the pandemic, has purchased over 10 million doses of CoronaVac from China but realised that it has efficacy of only 50.38 percent, against 78 percent previously announced. This has triggered questions about the veracity of China’s claim and suspicion regarding transparency.
The biggest country in Latin America, with a population of 212 million, saw the death of over 204,000 people due to COVID-19.
“We will vaccinate in January and Manaus will be the first to be vaccinated,” Brazilian Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said, referring to the badly-hit city in the Amazon rainforest.
Brazil’s neighbour Bolivia also announced that it has signed a deal with India’s Serum Institute for five million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine.
The country, with a population of 11.5 million, has recorded 9,450 coronavirus deaths due to the pandemic.
Bangladesh has also decided to procure the coronavirus vaccine from India. The 30 million doses of the vaccine are slated to reach Bangladesh by January 25, under a deal signed with Serum Institute of India, according to reports.
Bangladesh has chosen Indian vaccine despite getting offers from China.
