Brazil begins COVID inoculations of two vaccines including China's CoronaVac

Brazilian nurse Monica Calazans has become Brazil's first person to receive China-related vaccine. Now in her 50s, she got the jab on Jan 17 despite a series of underlying conditions, including diabetes, hypertension and obesity.

The COVID-19 vaccine CoronaVac, developed by China's Sinovac Biotech, won emergency approval on Jan 17 from regulators in Brazil as the country geared up for a mass immunization program amid a second wave of the pandemic.

Anvisa, Brazil's regulatory agency, also cleared Covishield developed by Astrazeneca plc and the University of Oxford, for emergency use, paving way for start of the national inoculation campaign.

"Today is a historical day for Brazilian science. Anvisa has just approved by majority the emergency use of the Butantan vaccine. Science victory. Victory of life. Victory of Brazil," said Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria after learning of Anvisa's decision.

"Altogether, 4,636,936 doses of the Butantan vaccine are being sent to the Ministry of Health for distribution to the Federal District and other states," he said.

By 8 pm local time on Jan 17, about 100 healthcare workers in Sao Paulo had received the Chinese vaccine, according to Doria.

The Butantan Institute, a Sao Paulo state government entity that enjoys the distinction of being the largest flu vaccine manufacturer in the Southern Hemisphere, will manufacture and distribute CoronaVac.

"Chinese science has shown it has leverage to create a different global political economy of vaccines. Due to western polarization of the pandemic, everybody now pays attention to the fact that the vaccine is Chinese," said Andre Lobato, a China researcher at the Center for International Relations in Fiocruz, a Rio de Janeiro-based institution that is involved in research and development in biological sciences.

"By themselves, Chinese have identified, isolated, sequenced and began clinical trials," noted Lobato, who is a member of Observa China, a global network of Portuguese speaking professionals with links to China.

CoronaVac underwent phase three trials in Brazil involving 13,000 volunteers that work in health care. Results released in the past week suggest the vaccine is more than 50 percent effective against all severities of COVID-19 and 100 percent effective against more serious cases that would require hospitalization.

"It is an excellent vaccine waiting to be used in a country where, at the moment, around a thousand people die every day," said Dimas Covas, director of the Butantan Institute.

The operation to start distributing the CoronaVac vaccine in Brazil started minutes after Anvisa's approval.

The CoronaVac doses have been available in Brazil since late December.

"Even politicians that antagonize with the socialist model of China are now relying on China biotech to call the shots in their favor," said Lobato from Fiocruz. "This is the case of Brazil."

Brazil has recorded more than 8.5 million infections of COVID-19 and 209,000 deaths, one of the highest tolls in the world.

"The emergency use authorization procedure assesses the suitability of vaccine candidates against Covid-19 for use during the current public health emergency, in order to minimize, as quickly as possible, the impacts of the pandemic," said Anvisa.

The pressure on Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to start vaccination as soon as possible was high and the availability of the vaccines made it higher.

"It would have worsened considerably if the population perceived political motivations regarding the approval of immunizers in Brazil," Igor Patrick, director of communications at Observa China, said from Rio de Janeiro.

"Bolsonaro has been feeling the effect of this pressure, since his rejection rates reached new records last week and the press has been publicizing the beginning of vaccination in several countries," Patrick said.

Covishield vaccine of AstraZeneca-Oxford University will be manufactured by Fiocruz, using active pharmaceutical ingredients made in China.

"Fiocruz, with the support of the Ministry of Health, has been in permanent contact with AstraZeneca for the release and export of the active pharmaceutical ingredients from China, which has specific protocols for exporting the cargo, and awaits more precise information to confirm the arrival date of the first inputs needed for vaccine production in Brazil," Fiocruz said in a press statement.

The writer is a freelance journalist for China Daily.