This translation has been automatically generated and has not been verified for accuracy.Brazil's Sao Paulo state Health Secretary Jean Gorinchteyn and Dimas Tadeu Covas, director of Instituto Butantan hold boxes of the 'CoronaVac' COVID-19 vaccine, developed by Sinovac Biotech as the plane containing containers with 5,5 million doses arrives at Viracopos International Airport, in Campinas, Brazil on Dec. 24, 2020.
Bolsonaro, a far-right former army captain, has said he will not take any coronavirus vaccine whatsoever.The vaccines are seen as crucial to ending the pandemic in Brazil, home to the world’s second-deadliest outbreak after the United States. Yet basic details about the government’s vaccine plans remain sketchy, with regulators yet to approve the AstraZeneca shot Brazil has already bought, and China’s Sinovac vaccine struggling to produce late-stage data.
In a news conference, Deputy Health Minister Elcio Franco defended the government, saying it was hamstrung by local laws which only allow it to sign vaccine purchase agreements once producers have emergency use authorizations or full authorizations.