Brazil started a nationwide COVID-19 immunization program on Monday (17) by distributing Coronavac vaccine doses produced by Butantan Institute in partnership with Chinese laboratory Sinovac. Still, the continuation of vaccination depends on the import of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (API).

Butantan Institute needs another shipment of API to produce more doses of Coronavac. The organization has 4,8 million doses of Coronavac in stock, besides the 6 million doses delivered to the federal government. The Chinese Coronavac’s active ingredient that the institute already has will only allow the formulation of new doses until the end of January. According to Valor Econômico, there is no date set for the arrival of new inputs.

Fiocruz, the partner of AstraZeneca in Brazil, also expects the first batch of ingredients from the laboratory’s partner in India to start producing Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines locally. The foundation has a contract for the acquisition of 100,4 million doses of the vaccine. The first load of inputs for 1 million doses from the manufacturer WuXi was first expected in December; later, on January 12. But nothing arrived. The responsibility for the order rests with AstraZeneca. The company said it is “working to release the planned batches of IPA as soon as possible”.

Delay in arrival of doses – The Brazilian Ministry of Health changed the delivery of Coronvac vaccines to Brazilian states, which were waiting for the doses to start the immunization after 5 pm, as announced by the federal government itself. The information is from Folha de S.Paulo.

At least six states that should receive the vaccines will receive at night, delaying vaccination. Besides, there are still three states without estimated arrival of the doses: Paraná, Rio Grande do Norte e Alagoas.