It is an oppressive scenario in the middle of the corona pandemic: The director of one of the most prestigious Brazilian public research institutes pleads with the Brazilian government: “We have an excellent vaccine, a vaccine waiting to be used! Why don’t we use it ? “
Coronavac is the name of the vaccine that the director of the Butantan-Instituts in São Paulo, Dimas Covas, presented to the public for the first time on Tuesday. The renowned biomedical research center produced the vaccine, which is also used in Indonesia and Turkey, together with the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac.
Around six million doses of the vaccine produced in China are stored ready-to-use in butantane, but they have not been retrieved despite rising infection rates and death rates. Because in Brazil there is so far neither an official approval for Coronavac nor for another Corona vaccine.
Dispute over effectiveness
Brazil’s Minister of Health Eduardo Pazuello ordered millions of Coronavac vaccine doses from the Butantane Institute in the first week of January
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This is likely to change soon: On January 17th, the Brazilian national drug agency Anvisa will decide on an emergency approval. In addition to Coronavac, there is another vaccine on the table that is preferred by Brazil’s President Bolsonaro: The AZD 1222 vaccine developed by the British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca.
After months of quarrels, the start of vaccination in Brazil is now getting closer: In the first week of January, for example, before approval, Brazil’s Minister of Health Eduardo Pazuello signed a contract with the Butantan Institute that would allow the delivery of more than 100 million doses of the coronavac vaccine over the course of the year the Ministry provides.
In addition, two million doses of the vaccine from AstraZeneca from India are expected to arrive in the third week of January. According to press reports, Russia wants to apply for rapid approval of its “Sputnik V” vaccine in Brazil this week.
The dispute over the “Chinese vaccination” is only one part of the Brazilian vaccination drama, which has degenerated into a power struggle. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has deep political hostility not only with China but also with the governor of the state of São Paulo, João Doria, dismissed the vaccine as ineffective several times.
Enemy China
“50 percent effectiveness, is that really good?” The president asked his supporters in Brasilia again at the beginning of the week. Butantane director Dimas Covas countered with facts when presenting the vaccine. The efficiency rate of 50.38 percent applies to a mild course of the disease without medical treatment. If the disease progresses moderately and requires medical care, it increases to 78 percent.
But not only the doubts about “the Chinese vaccination”, as Bolsonaro Coronavac calls it, but the president’s general skepticism about vaccinations have now spread to large parts of the Brazilian population. Bolsonaro, who has already been through a corona infection, had stated several times that he himself would not be vaccinated under any circumstances.
“A lot of people say they’ll ask if the vaccine comes from China. If it comes from China, they don’t want the vaccine,” says Carlos Lula, chairman of the National Council of Health Ministers from the 27 Brazilian states. He estimates that the vaccination of around 220 million Brazilians will take until the end of March 2022.
“It will take time before society can be convinced that this type of debate is pointless.” After all, almost everything comes from China, says Lula. “Also every single-use syringe, no matter what vaccine it is filled with.”
“Mask requirement? To say no is a right”: Many Bolsonaro supporters do not want to wear masks or get vaccinated
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Disposable syringes, desperately wanted
And it is precisely these that are in short supply. With millions of disposable syringes and needles short in Brazil, the government lifted import duties on these and all other vaccination products from China on January 6 this year.
Health politician Carlos Lula hopes that after the import of the aids and the emergency approval of the vaccines, the obstacles can be overcome and the immunization of the population can begin quickly. “We are very late,” he said. “But our advantage is that the vaccines are not imported, but produced in the country itself.”
The biggest challenge is now to overcome the reservations raised by the president himself about vaccinations, especially Coronavac. Brazil’s powerful medical association AMB does not want to wait any longer and has already started a campaign to this end.
“Since vaccination started on December 8, 2020 in Great Britain, 23 million people in 50 countries have been vaccinated worldwide. 1.9 million people have died of Corona worldwide,” said a statement published on Wednesday. Brazil mourns more than 200,000 corona deaths.
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