Brazil to begin mass Covid-19 vaccination this week

Brasilia, Jan 18 : Brazil will begin a mass vaccination drive against the novel coronavirus starting from Wednesday onwards, according to Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello.
The Brazilian government will begin the distribution of the vaccines throughout the country starting early Monday morning, Xinhua news agency quoted Pazuello as saying at a press conference on Sunday.
The decision came after Brazil’s Health Regulatory Agency unanimously on Sunday approved the emergency use of the CoronaVac vaccine, from the Chinese laboratory Sinovac, as well as the AstraZeneca-University of Oxford vaccine.
The vaccines will be delivered by the Brazilian Air Force “to strategic points” in each state, after which inoculation will begin throughout the country on Wednesday.
The first vaccine to be distributed in Brazil was CoronaVac, developed by Sinovac in conjunction with the Butantan Institute of Sao Paulo, and the first doses were administered to health professionals in Sao Paulo shortly after the approval.
The Brazilian government has procured 6 million doses of the CoronaVac vaccine to be distributed throughout the country.