Seeing the intricacies of procuring the Covid-19 vaccine in Brazil, there are political interests

Liputan6.com, Jakarta – Brazil is one of the countries that has been heavily affected by the corona virus pandemic covid-19. As of Tuesday (11/24/2020) afternoon, the total cases there reached 6,088,004 and killed 169,541 people.

No wonder Brazil is one of the countries that is very keen to hunt down vaccines covid-19. Currently, the Brazilian Health Regulator (Anvisa) has allowed four potential vaccine producers, namely Sinovac Biotech, AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Janssen-Cilag (Johnson and Johnson) to conduct clinical trials of the covid-19 vaccine.

Not only that, at the end of last October Brazil was also reportedly preparing a permit for the Covid-19 vaccine from Russia, Sputnik V, to be distributed immediately.

Especially for the Covid-19 vaccine from Sinovac, it is indeed a story in Brazil. This is because the Sinovac collaboration was carried out by Brazil’s largest state, Sao Paulo, without involving the Central Government.

The governor of Sao Paolo, Joao Doria, who is rumored to be running in the presidential election market in 2022, chose Sinovac despite criticism from the current President, Jair Bolsonaro.

“Doria uses the issue of vaccines to look different from Bolsonaro. She wants to build an image that she really believes in science ahead of the presidential election,” said Oliver Stuenkel, Associate Professor of International Relations at the Getúlio Vargas Foundation. SCMP.

“Meanwhile Bolsonaro uses the vaccine issue with the narrative that Doria is under Chinese control. The vaccine issue is a political issue for both of them,” he added.

In early November, Anvisa stopped the clinical trial of the Covid-19 vaccine made by Sinovac. Because there was the death of a volunteer in Sao Paulo

Bolsonaro had called Anvisa’s termination of clinical trials a victory for Brazilians. “Death, disability and anomalies. This vaccine is what Doria wants to give to the people of Sao Paulo,” he said.

However, after two days Anvisa finally gave permission again to Sinovac to continue clinical trials. The Butantan Laboratory, which collaborated with Sinovac for the covid-19 vaccine, said the deaths in volunteers were not related to vaccines.

In fact, 120 thousand doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from Sinovac, named CoronaVac, arrived last week and are waiting for distribution permission from Anvisa. In total, the government of Sao Paulo purchased six million doses of Sinovac for use next year.

On the other hand, the Brazilian government itself earlier this week signed a letter of intent (loi) or a memorandum of understanding with five companies regarding the purchase of vaccines.

The five companies are Pfizer, Janssen-Cilag, Bharat Biotech, Moderna and the Russian Government represented by the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF).

Later, from the five producers, Brazil will receive 143 million doses of vaccine covid-19 or able to supply vaccinations for one third of the population there.

“We discussed details such as vaccine production, safety, effectiveness, as well as logistical aspects. Now the Ministry of Health has signed a log but has no legal obligation. So we can buy vaccines in the future after obtaining permission from regulators.”

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