New Delhi: As India gets ready to roll out the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Serum Institute of India’s Covishield vaccine, Brazil’s President Jair Bolsonaro has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expedite a shipment of the vaccine amid broader delays in his country.
The letter shared by the president’s press office Friday comes amid pressure to rollout the vaccine in Brazil, the third worst-affected nation in the world.
“To enable the immediate implementation of our National Immunization Program, I would appreciate … the supply to Brazil, with the possible urgency and without jeopardizing the Indian vaccination program, of 2 million doses,” reads the letter shared by the press office.
Bolsonaro’s letter comes after AstraZeneca’s Brazil partner, the federally-funded Fiocruz biomedical center, said Friday that ingredients needed to fill and finish millions of doses of the vaccine, slated to arrive in the country Saturday, may not land up until the end of the month. It also said that it was in talks to import more finished doses of the vaccine, over and above the two million doses that it has ordered from India.
Fiocruz had earlier requested an emergency use authorisation for AstraZeneca vaccines coming from India.
India’s vaccine supply plan
ThePrint had earlier reported that India is set to follow the ‘HCQ model’ to rollout the vaccine among neighbours and other friendly countries after fulfilling its domestic commitment.
India has not imposed any ban on exporting vaccines but has put restrictions in place. Both the Oxford-AstraZeneca’s Covishield, manufactured in India by the Pune-based Serum Institute of India (SII), and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin, will be “immediately” made available to India’s neighbours and friendly countries after domestic needs are met.
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