Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga announced on Monday that the country will receive 1.5 million doses of the Janssen vaccine tomorrow. The batch is part of an agreement to purchase 3 million doses, and expected to arrive one week ago.
Janssen’s vaccine will be the first single-shot immunizer used in Brazil, which could “speed up the [vaccination] process,” said Mr. Queiroga. He added that Brazil has signed a contract to buy 38 million doses from Janssen, and managed to secure an advance of 3 million doses. The rest are expected to arrive in Brazil from October onward.
Mr. Queiroga has said on multiple occasions that faster vaccination is the only way to respond to the emergence of new coronavirus variants. Health officials have mapped at least 19 mutations in the São Paulo area alone. However, the Jair Bolsonaro administration did everything in its power to stall vaccine purchases in 2020 — as exposed by the Senate’s Covid hearings committee.
As of today, Brazil has administered over 87 million doses, with 11.5 percent of the population fully vaccinated.
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