Sao Paulo. After a delay of weeks, the Brazilian authority Anvisa has approved the emergency approval of two vaccines against Covid-19. The CoronaVac vaccine is produced by the Butantan Institute in the metropolis of São Paulo in partnership with the Chinese pharmaceutical manufacturer Sinovac. The second approved vaccine, Astra Zeneca, was developed with the University of Oxford in the UK.
On Sunday a week ago, the first person in Brazil was vaccinated with CoronaVac. A 54-year-old nurse who works in a corona intensive care unit at Hospital das Clinicas in São Paulo received the first dose. São Paulo’s governor João Doria of the Social Democratic Party of Brazil (PSDB), who wants to challenge incumbent Jair Bolsonaro in the next presidential election in 2022, was celebrated for this.
Meanwhile, a court is investigating possible responsibilities for the collapse of the health system in the northern Brazilian city of Manaus. The Brazilian Minister of Health, General Eduardo Pazuello, is in view of the failure, because the German government knew of the impending crisis ten days in advance. Prosecutor Igor Spindora has informed that the stop of the oxygen supply to Manaus by the planes of the Brazilian Air Force is responsible for the shortage of oxygen bottles for the hospitals. However, from whom the order for the interruption of the oxygen deliveries to the state of Amazonas originated is currently being determined.
With almost 8.5 million corona cases, Brazil ranks third among the countries with the most corona infections worldwide. The situation in the Amazon metropolis of Manaus is particularly critical. Even after an emergency delivery from neighboring Venezuela, the hospitals lack oxygen for ventilators. There is a need for thousands of additional intensive care beds. Corona-infected people die at home and now also in queues in front of the city’s hospitals without the chance of life-saving medical care.
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