Brazil’s latest Covid vaccine purchase comes too late

Brazil’s Ministry of Health this month announced a purchase of 12.5 million doses of Moderna’s updated Covid XBB vaccine, a decision considered both too little and too late by health experts.

Brazil has recorded over 38 million Covid cases and almost 712,000 deaths (second only to the U.S.). And while the country saw a recent uptick in Covid infections, worrying officials, the curves for both cases and deaths are nowhere near the peaks recorded in 2020 and 2021 — when daily death tallies were in the thousands.

Back in October 2023, the ministry announced a policy to prioritize immunization of small children and certain priority groups, reversing the decision enacted earlier in the pandemic to achieve almost universal vaccination.

The new vaccines by both Moderna and Pfizer were approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration back in September. Federal health regulator Anvisa, Brazil’s equivalent to the FDA, approved Pfizer’s new vaccine in December and Moderna’s last month.

The approvals led to a first in Brazilian purchases of Covid vaccines: competition for the same bid. Moderna offered a...