SÃO PAULO – The government of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has withdrawn from its criticism of Chinese vaccines and agreed to purchase up to 100 million doses of an injection being developed by Sinovac in China, as Latin America faces a increase in Covid-19 cases after the holidays.
Bolsonaro, an ex-army captain who followed President Trump’s lead in bashing on China, has long discredited Sinovac’s vaccine, which has been tested by a state research center in a partnership backed by his political rival, the governor of São Paulo, João Doria. Just two months ago, Mr. Bolsonaro’s supporters said the vaccine, CoronaVac, could kill or disable them without providing any evidence, and he declined to buy it.
But in recent months, the Chinese vaccine has emerged as one of Brazil’s best bets to fight a pandemic that killed more than 200,000 people here, second only to the US.
The health ministry said late on Thursday that it had signed a contract with the Butantan Institute, the São Paulo state research center that tested and produced CoronaVac, to purchase 46 million doses. The ministry said it has the option of buying another 54 million, enough to immunize 50 million people with the two doses, or about a quarter of the Brazilian population.
Latin America is rushing to secure doses as cases increase across the region. Hundreds of thousands of people tested positive in Latin America this week, after defying many government warnings and holding large family gatherings during the holidays and overcrowded beaches in the early summer in the Southern Hemisphere. With only 8% of the world’s population, Latin America is responsible for nearly 30% of Covid-19 deaths.