Documents obtained by TV station Globo show that the Brazilian Health Ministry was concerned with the good press received by São Paulo Governor João Doria thanks to his efforts in securing contracts to produce the Chinese-made CoronaVac vaccine in his state. At the time, the federal government showed no indication regarding when it would begin rolling out jabs.
Back in November 2020, the cabinet drafted a briefing saying Mr. Doria had received press attention and popularity by pushing to kick-start rollouts — while the Jair Bolsonaro administration appeared to be stalling.
This strategy was evident when, just before São Paulo administered its first vaccines in January, then-Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said immunization would begin “on D-day, at H-hour.”
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