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HEALTH-VIRUS-BRAZIL-VACCINE LEAD
Brazil approves Pfizer Covid vaccine for widespread use
BRASILIA, Feb 23, 2021 (BSS/AFP) – Brazil’s health regulatory agency said
Tuesday it had approved the Pfizer-BioNTech Covid-19 vaccine for widespread
use, as the country races to secure enough doses to contain one of the
world’s worst outbreaks.
“It gives me great pleasure to announce that after a 17-day review,
(regulators) have granted the first approval in the Americas for widespread
use of a vaccine against Covid-19,” said Antonio Barra Torres, the director
of federal health regulator Anvisa, underlining that the approval was
definitive and not only for emergency use.
However, the vaccine is not yet available in Brazil, which is so far using
two others: Chinese-developed CoronaVac and one developed by Oxford
University and British-Swedish pharmaceutical firm AstraZeneca.
The approval came a day after media reports said Pfizer representatives
had told Brazilian senators that the country’s regulatory requirements were
excessively strict.
Pfizer reportedly objected to the government’s insistence on the right to
hold the company liable for any side effects the vaccine may cause.
Anvisa’s statement did not mention the issue, which has been a sticking
point in Brazil’s negotiations with Pfizer.
President Jair Bolsonaro, whose critics accuse him of fueling anti-vaccine
skepticism, joked at one point of the Pfizer vaccine, “If it turns you into
an alligator, that’s your problem.”
The far-right leader has faced criticism for vaccine shortages that have
forced several cities to halt their immunization drives after a little over a
month.
Brazil has vaccinated about 5.9 million people so far, or 2.8 percent of
its population of 212 million.
More than 247,000 people have died of Covid-19 in Brazil, the second-
highest death toll, after the United States.
BSS/AFP/ARS/1947 hrs