Coronavirus

Brazil to receive 2.3 million Pfizer vaccines this week

pfizer vaccine brazil
Photo: Alexandros Michailidis/Shutterstock

The Brazilian federal government and Pfizer announced that the pharmaceutical giant will deliver 2.3 million doses of its coronavirus vaccine this week. The first batch of 936,000 shots is set to arrive tonight at Viracopos Airport, in Campinas.

According to the Health Ministry, Pfizer is set to deliver 12 million vaccines in June as part of a 100-million-dose deal signed on March 19.

Brazil’s health regulator Anvisa altered the rules for storing the Pfizer vaccine. The new regulations state that doses can be kept in temperatures below 8 degrees Celsius for 31 days — instead of five days, as previously stated. That change makes it viable for the government to distribute the immunizer to cities outside state capitals.

So far, less than 22 percent of Brazilians have received at least one coronavirus vaccine shot — with 10.5 percent being fully immunized.