Brazil is in talks with the United States to import surplus COVID-19 vaccines, Brazil’s State Department said Saturday, as the South American nation struggles to stop rising coronavirus infections and deaths.
The ministry tweeted that, along with the Brazilian embassy in Washington, it has been in talks with the US government since March 13 “to allow Brazil to import vaccines from the surplus available in the United States.”
The announcement comes after US President Joe Biden’s administration said on Thursday that it would “lend” 2.5 million doses of AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine to Mexico and 1.5 million other doses to Canada amid a dose surplus.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s government is under increasing pressure to be accountable for his administration’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic and the slow roll-out of vaccines.
The country is experiencing a surge in coronavirus infections and deaths as more than 290,000 people have died since the start of the pandemic – the second highest in the world after the US.
According to data from Johns Hopkins University, more than 11.8 million cases of COVID-19 have been reported in Brazil to date.
Since March 13, the Brazilian government, through Itamaraty and the Embassy in Washington, in conjunction with the Department of Health, has been negotiating with the U.S. government to allow Brazil to import vaccines from the surplus available in the United States.
– Itamaraty Brazil 🇧🇷 (@Itamaraty_EN) March 20, 2021
On Saturday, the Health Ministry said 79,069 new cases have been reported in the past 24 hours, along with 2,438 additional coronavirus-related deaths.
The country’s health network is also on the verge of collapse in several parts of the country, as local and government officials have been trying to impose stricter restrictions in recent weeks in an effort to stop the spread of the virus.
The beaches in Rio de Janeiro were closed to the public on weekends. Mayor Eduardo Paes urged residents to stay at home in what he described as a “very difficult” situation.
“Either we are aware of it and we respect lives, or we will be living in an unmanageable situation for the next few days,” he added, as police officers took positions in front of the beaches of Copacabana, Ipanema and Barra de. Tijuca.
It was the first time Rio’s beaches had closed to the public since they reopened last July.
Joao Doria, Governor of the State of Sao Paulo, also imposed a two-week “code red” block earlier this month, closing non-essential businesses and limiting other services.
The measures sparked some protests across Brazil, as law enforcement agencies broke up large rallies that violated the restrictions.
Al Jazeera’s Daniel Schweimler, reporting from Buenos Aires, said on Saturday that one problem is that there are conflicting statements and measures from political leaders across Brazil.
While the mayor of Rio de Janeiro closed the beaches, Schweimler said Bolsonaro has encouraged people to “get as much vitamin D and sunshine as possible, saying it is the best way to fight the coronavirus.”
So you have a really big political problem: those who are taking measures to fight the pandemic, and the president and his allies say they are doing it right, they are doing the best they can, it is not their fault and the people are urgent to just keep going, ”said Schweimler.
Bolsonaro, a COVID-19 skeptic who has shunned public health measures and downplayed the coronavirus threat, has asked Brazil’s Supreme Court to overturn the lockdown orders, local media reported Friday.
“They are imposing martial law, which is unconstitutional. They cannot do this without the approval of Congress. They humiliate the population while saying they are saving lives. How can they save lives, they starve people, ”said Bolsonaro.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has been criticized for his government’s handling of the pandemic [File: Ueslei Marcelino/Reuters]
The far-right president last week appointed Brazil’s fourth health minister since the pandemic began, saying the country was entering a more “aggressive” phase in the fight against the virus.
Marcelo Queiroga, a cardiologist, has pledged to carry out Bolsonaro’s policy.
Meanwhile, the Brazilian government has struggled to administer COVID-19 vaccines and so far has delivered at least one dose to about 5.4 percent of the population.
Brazil approved two vaccines for emergency use in January: AstraZeneca in the UK and CoronaVac, developed in China.
The country said last week that it had ordered 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 38 million from Johnson & Johnson, while negotiating 13 million doses of the vaccine from Moderna Inc.