RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) – Brazil’s health regulator on Sunday approved the urgent use of coronavirus vaccines made by Sinovac and AstraZeneca, enabling Latin America’s largest country to launch a vaccination program that is subject to to delay and political disputes.
Brazil currently has 6 million doses of Sinovac’s CoronaVac vaccine ready to be distributed in the next few days, awaiting the arrival of 2 million doses of the vaccine made by AstraZeneca and partner Oxford University.
“This is good news for Brazil, but 6 million doses are still very few. “It will not allow the entire population to be endangered, nor is it clear how quickly the country will get more vaccines,” said Ethel Maciel, an epidemiologist at the Federal University of Espirito Santo.
Health regulator Anvisa on Saturday night rejected an application for the use of a Russian vaccine called Sputnik V, which was submitted by the Brazilian company União Química. Anvisa said the application was not evaluated because it did not meet the minimum requirements to start an analysis.
Vaccination in Brazil started later than neighbors such as Argentina and Chile, despite a strong public health system and decades of experience with vaccination campaigns. The process of presenting and approving the COVID-19 vaccines was full of conflict, as allies of President Jair Bolsonaro wanted to question the effectiveness of the Sinovac shot, backed by his political rival, the government of Sao Paulo, the government João Doria.
“The rivalry between Brasilia and the state governments has prevented collaborative work,” said Maurício Santoro, professor of political science at the University of Rio de Janeiro. “The governor is losing the leadership position, but is allowing Bolsonaro to act more quickly to guarantee the vaccination.”
The vaccination priority is health workers at the forefront against coronavirus. The vaccination by the federal government will begin on Wednesday, Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said on Sunday.
The state of Sao Paulo began immunizing on Sunday following Anvisa’s decision. Mônica Calazans, a 54-year-old nurse working on the front line of the coronavirus, was vaccinated during a ceremony led by Doria. Calazans participated in the CoronaVac clinical trial. As more doses become available, the vaccination will be extended to others, including the indigenous population, people over 60 and people with pre-existing diseases, according to the vaccination plan presented by the federal government.
The Brazilian government is considering extending the time between the application of the first and second doses of immunizers to quickly reach more people, Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said in Manaus on Monday.
The Amazon city of Manaus, the first capital of the state whose health care system collapsed in 2020 due to the pandemic, is once again experiencing a critical situation with a lack of oxygen in some hospitals. Doctors in the largest city in the Amazon rainforest must choose which COVID-19 patients can breathe amid dwindling oxygen supplies.
Hospitals in Manaus, an isolated city of 2.2 million people, have admitted few new COVID-19 patients, causing many at home to suffer from the disease and some die. Other Brazilian states have offered to receive patients and Manaus’ health system.
Bolsonaro, who contracted COVID-19 and has said in the past that he has no plans to be vaccinated, has raised suspicions about the effectiveness of the Chinese vaccine, which will be manufactured locally by an institute of the Sao Paulo government dependent. Doria’s government has criticized Bolsonaro’s handling of the pandemic.
The Sao Paulo government has aroused distrust with a confusing announcement about the results of the CoronaVac vaccine. Doria announced on January 7 that the effectiveness of the immunizer was 78% for mild patients and 100% for severe cases. A week later, in a press conference in which the governor was absent, officials of his government said that the clinical efficacy of CoronaVac is only about 50%.
Some scientists warn that not enough data has been published on the efficacy or safety of Sinovac’s vaccine. It has yet to be tested on tens of thousands of people in the kind of rigorous study deemed necessary before it is licensed for wide use.
Global health authorities have said that any vaccine that is at least 50% effective will be useful. Indonesia, China and Bolivia have granted CoronaVac conditional authorization.
Despite the doubts and contempt of some supporters of the President of Brazil against vaccines, many people in Brazil are hoping to get the vaccine.
“I plan to be vaccinated and so does my family,” said Thiago Salgado, 39, a music teacher.
The government’s forecast is to end 2021 with at least 354 million doses between the contracts for the two vaccines, and those that will be manufactured locally. If this figure is applied, it is sufficient to fully immunize at least 80% of Brazilians.
Raquel Esteves, a 74-year-old retiree who supports Bolsonaro, lives in Rio de Janeiro and said she is not afraid of being vaccinated. He noted questions about the effectiveness of the Sinovac vaccine.
“I’ve been in my house for a year and a half, I can stay without problems for another two or three months,” Esteves said.