Brazil to use Chinese vaccine against COVID-19

(FASTNEWS | COLOMBO) – Brazil plans to use a Chinese-made coronavirus vaccine as part of a national immunisation programme, officials have announced.

São Paulo Governor João Doria said the federal government had agreed to buy 46 million doses of the vaccine CoronaVac.

He said the immunisation programme could begin as soon as January 2021, making it one of the first such efforts in the world to fight the pandemic.

Brazil has been one of the countries worst affected by coronavirus.

It has had nearly 5.3 million confirmed cases – the third highest tally in the world after the US and India – and is second only to the US in terms of deaths, with nearly 155,000 registered so far, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University.