CoronaVac vaccines will no longer be produced in Brazil

The Butantan Biological Institute decided to officially end the manufacturing of the Sinovac coronavirus vaccine, sold under the brand name CoronaVac. Production had already been halted in October 2021, as the Brazilian vaccine rollout advanced and the use of other vaccines became more important.

Butantan says it hasn’t received new orders for vaccine jabs since February.

CoronaVac was the first vaccine administered in Brazil, in January 2021, and remained the country’s most-used jab until July of that year. 

After that, it was surpassed by AstraZeneca, according to official data. The Sinovac vaccine remains the only vaccine administered in the country that has not been given a definitive registration by regulators, unlike the AstraZeneca, Janssen, and Pfizer jabs.

The last pack with over 110 million CoronaVac doses was sent from Butantan to the Brazilian Health Ministry in February. The biological institute says there is no forecast for production to be resumed.

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