Brazil’s Foreign Trade Secretariat has decreed that needles and syringes require special licenses in order to be exported from the country, as the government scrambles to acquire enough syringes to vaccinate the population against Covid-19.
While the federal government’s vaccination plan remains uncertain, a major bottleneck in this process has been the procurement of syringes and needles. Last week, the Health Ministry – led by “logistics expert” Eduardo Pazuello – held an online auction to purchase 331 million syringes, but was only able to find a supplier to provide 7.9 million units.
The government had estimated a unit price of between BRL 0.13 and 0.18 for the procurement process, thus were left frustrated by bids ranging between BRL 0.22 and BRL 0.42 per unit.
According to magazine Veja, export restrictions were requested by Health Minister Pazuello himself.
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