RIO DE JANEIRO ¨C Weeks after other Latin American countries began inoculating their citizens against coronavirus, Brazil finally administered its first shot on Jan. 17 using China¡¯s Sinovac Biotech Ltd vaccine.
With efficacy of just over 50% ¡ª barely above Brazil¡¯s threshold for regulatory approval ¡ª the Chinese shot was not the government¡¯s first choice. But for now, there is little else available.
The country¡¯s principle strategy ¡ª to manufacture 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca PLC vaccine locally ¡ª has been plagued by repeated delays. That effort isn¡¯t expected to yield a finished product until March at the earliest. AstraZeneca last week sent 2 million emergency doses to help Brazil get started. Meanwhile, Brazil¡¯s Health Ministry has yet to sign deals with other vaccine makers.
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