$PFE Brazil Reaches Agreements to Buy 138 Million Doses of Vaccine From Pfizer, Janssen
Source: Dow Jones News
By Jeffrey T. Lewis
SÃO PAULO -- Brazil's federal government on Friday signed contracts to buy a total of 138 million doses of vaccines against the coronavirus from Pfizer Inc. and from Johnson & Johnson unit Janssen, the country's health ministry said.
Pfizer agreed to supply 100 million doses of its vaccine through September, and Janssen agreed to supply 38 million doses through December People receiving the Pfizer vaccine need to get two doses of the product, while the Janssen vaccine is only one shot, so the deal should allow Brazil to vaccinate 88 million people.
With the contracts, Brazil's health ministry said the country has reached agreements for the supply of more than 562 million doses of vaccines for the country through the end of this year. Most of the vaccines require two shots, but the number is still more than enough to vaccinate all of the country's population of about 212 million people.
The agreement comes as Brazil is working to rev up its vaccination programs. Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has repeatedly downplayed the severity of the illness caused by the virus, and several Brazilian states have worked to arrange their own supplies of vaccines.
The Butantan Institute, based in the state of São Paulo, is fitting out a plant to produce a vaccine developed by Chinese company Sinovac and has already supplied millions of doses using imported materials, while Brazilian company União Quimica has an agreement to produce Russia's Sputnik vaccine.
Brazilian health agency Anvisa has already approved the use of the vaccines developed by AstraZeneca together with Oxford University, by Pfizer and by Sinovac, and is analyzing the Janssen and Sputnik vaccines for approval.
Write to Jeffrey T. Lewis at jeffrey.lewis@wsj.com
(END) Dow Jones Newswires
March 19, 2021 17:43 ET (21:43 GMT)
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