SAA PAULO – The Brazilian government, Jair Bolsonaro, has backed down from its criticism of Chinese vaccines and agreed to buy up to 100 million doses of a shot developed by Sinovac in China, as Latin America increases Covid- Confront 19 cases.
Mr. Bolsonaro, a former army captain who followed President Trump’s leadership to defend China, has long discredited Sinovac’s vaccine, which was tested by a state research center in a partnership backed by his political rival, São Paulo government João Doria. Just two months ago, Bolsonaro told his supporters that the vaccine, CoronaVac, could kill or deactivate it without providing evidence, and refused to buy it.
But in recent months, the Chinese vaccine has emerged as one of the best bets in Brazil to fight a pandemic that has cost the lives of more than 200,000 people here.
The Ministry of Health said late Thursday that it had signed a contract with the Butantan Institute, the São Paulo research center that tested and manufactured CoronaVac, to buy 46 million doses. The ministry said it had the option to buy another 54 million, which is enough to immunize 50 million people with the two doses, or about a quarter of Brazil’s.
Latin America is rushing to secure doses as cases in the region increase. Hundreds of thousands more people tested positive in Latin America this week, after many government warnings and the big holiday gatherings during the holidays and beaches full of sand at the start of the Southern Hemisphere summer. With only 8% of the world population, Latin America accounted for nearly 30% of the deaths in Covid-19.