Brazil governors seek own 'supply plans' amid COVID-19 vaccine shortage

Amid a critical shortage of COVID-19 jabs, that led to the suspension of inoculation drive in the metropolis of Rio de Janeiro, and Bahia state’s capital Salvador, Brazilian state governors on Saturday sought to turn to their own vaccine supply plans. Fearing that the Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro would make no efforts to restart the stalled mass vaccination campaign, Brazil’s governors and mayors pushed to ramp up their own state’s vials supply, amid speculations that Brazil’s two biggest cities, Rio and Sao Paulo will soon run out of doses. Sao Paulo’s João Doria, a former Bolsonaro ally, criticized the Brazilian government for procuring 100 million CoronaVac shots from Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac, condemning the delay in delivery that has hampered the Latin American country’s vaccination goals. 

“If it wasn’t for this (CoronaVac) shot, Brazil today would be a country without vaccines,” Doria told The Associated Press in an interview. He added that he is negotiating for 20 million more doses and, if the federal government doesn’t buy them, he could sell them to other governors. “It is not for a state government to secure vaccines, but here we are.” The vaccination supply running out has left Brazil’s 210 million population in limbo, and Brazil was left stranded after it got only 2 million doses in shipment of the total 100 million AstraZeneca doses that it ordered in January. However, Brazil’s Fiocruz, the Rio-based laboratory will now produce the shots in Brazil.

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India gifted 2 million vaccines

Brazil’s Health Ministry, in a state-run press address, said that it was also negotiating with Russia and India to procure 30 million jabs. India, last week, gifted two million doses of Covishield vaccine manufactured by the world’s largest Serum Institute of India to Brazil. President of Brazil Jair Bolsonaro had expressed gratitude for India’s dispatch of 2 million doses of Covishield as he wrote: "Namaskar, Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Brazil feels honoured to have a great partner to overcome a global obstacle by joining efforts. Thank you for assisting us with the vaccine exports from India to Brazil. Dhanyavaad!’ He couple the post with an image of Lord Hanuman carrying the Coronavirus vaccine-like 'Sanjeevani' from India to Brazil. 

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