Deliveries to the Brazilian Government of CoronaVac, the covid-19 immunizer produced in Brazil under licensing from Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac, are expected to be on track in May.
The Butantan Institute, that produces CoronaVac locally, announced the delivery to the federal government, at the end of last week, of another 1 million doses of the vaccine, bringing total supply to 40.7 million doses.
The total corresponds to 88.4% of 46 million doses to be delivered to the federal government by April 30. A second contract provides for the delivery of an additional 54 million doses by the end of September.
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The director of the Butantan Institute, Dimas Covas, said that 3 thousand liters of input, enough to manufacture 5 million doses of the vaccine, are expected to arrive in São Paulo only on 19 April, allowing them to be delivered on 3 May.
A second shipment of 3 thousand liters, to be used in the National Immunization Program (PNI), is expected later.
Dimas Covas added that the second contract with the Ministry of Health, which provides for the delivery of over 54 million doses of the vaccine, will start to be fulfilled when new consignments of inputs arrive in the country.
“This raw material is not yet authorized to come [to Brazil]. The authorization is batch by batch. We are waiting for the beginning of May to start shipments of raw materials [inputs] for the 54 million doses”, he said.
