Technical blunder helped delay vaccine rollouts in Brazil

The delay in rolling out the AstraZeneca vaccine in Brazil can be partially blamed on a technical blunder by flagship medical institute Oswaldo Cruz Foundation, sources told newspaper O Globo. 

Vaccine inputs were sent to be bottled at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation before being sent to regulators and distributed as part of the country’s vaccination campaign. However, according to two people familiar with the production process, one of the machines responsible for processing the vaccine was reportedly set to the wrong parameters, preventing the institute from delivering vaccines on schedule. 

The case adds to a laundry list of vaccine blunders by the Brazilian government, including refusing a purchase deal with Pfizer, mixing up shipments of doses between two similarly-named states, and failing to meet the potential Brazil’s vaccination infrastructure, which is capable of immunizing up to 1 million people per day.

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