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Chinese vaccine draws demand across Latin America, say Brazilian officials
CGTN
South America;
People gather outside a bar at the Mureta da Urca, amid the coronavirus outbreak, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, December 1, 2020. /Reuters

People gather outside a bar at the Mureta da Urca, amid the coronavirus outbreak, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, December 1, 2020. /Reuters

Doses of a COVID-19 vaccine made by China's Sinovac Biotech are rolling off a Brazilian production line, drawing interest around the country and across Latin America from governments struggling to procure costlier vaccines.

São Paulo Governor João Doria said at a news conference on Thursday that the state's biomedical center, the Butantan Institute, aims to fill and finish 1 million doses per day on its production line for a vaccination campaign to start January 25.

Doria said 11 Brazilian states have contacted Butantan seeking the doses of the vaccine.

At the same news conference, Butantan head Dimas Covas said several countries in the region, including Peru, Uruguay, Paraguay, and Honduras, are interested in buying the CoronaVac vaccine from Brazil. Butantan is in advanced talks with Argentina to the supply vaccine, he said.

Dimas said CoronaVac doses would cost $10.30 to Brazilian states and cities outside of São Paulo, a fraction of what some U.S. and European pharmaceutical companies are charging for COVID-19 vaccines.

Butantan has begun to build a facility where it plans to produce the vaccine from scratch as of September 2021 instead of receiving it in bulk from China to fill and label vials.

Read more: China's COVID vaccines may fill gaps left by Western ones

Brazil's mass vaccination

Earlier on Thursday, Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello pledged in a radio interview to vaccinate Brazil's entire population against COVID-19 next year.

In the country's most populous state São Paulo, vaccination has almost become a must-have as the place devastated by the virus.

"I've guaranteed that the 45 million Brazilians here in São Paulo will be vaccinated, and the vaccine will be obligatory," Gov. João Doria said, adding they will take legal measures if there are any setbacks in this regard.

Pressure has been mounting, with state governors criticizing the federal government as unprepared for a mass immunization campaign and failing to secure a diverse enough supply of vaccines.

Pazuello repeated the ministry would buy any effective vaccines that are approved by health regulator Anvisa and reasonably priced, opening the door to a federal purchase of the Chinese vaccine.

Brazil has the world's second-deadliest outbreak of the novel coronavirus after the United States, with more than 178,000 deaths. The continent-sized country, with a population of 212 million, has registered 6.7 million confirmed cases.

On Thursday, the country's health regulator Anvisa set out rules for companies to apply for emergency use authorizations for COVID-19 vaccines, an option that had not previously existed.

The Anvisa decision could allow the emergency use of vaccines being tested in Brazil. AstraZeneca, Pfizer Inc, Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical subsidiary Janssen, and Sinovac all have vaccines in late-stage trials.

(With input from Reuters)

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