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With monkeypox threat, Brazil risks repeating Covid failures

The Health Ministry claims to have ordered vaccines but The Brazilian Report understands that approval has not been sought

monkeypox threat Covid failures
The Health Ministry’s monkeypox committee met in Brasília on July 29. Photo: SVS/MS

The Health Ministry reported the first death from monkeypox in Brazil on Friday. The patient was a 41-year-old man with underlying medical conditions, including low immunity and lymphoma. He died in a hospital in the southeastern city of Belo Horizonte.

The confirmation came one day after the government announced the creation of an emergency committee to prepare a vaccination plan. 

Health Surveillance Secretary Arnaldo Medeiros said at a Friday press conference that the health ministry had ordered 50,000 doses of a vaccine through a partnership with the Pan-American Health Organization (PAHO). He expects the doses to arrive in two separate batches, in September and November.

The vaccine ordered by the Brazilian government is produced by Bavarian Nordic, a Denmark-based pharmaceutical company. It is the same vaccine being supplied to the U.S. and...

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