Brazil to Ink Deal for 100Mln Pfizer Doses, Expects 100% Vaccination Rate by Year-End

MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 30th April, 2021) Brazil is set to strike a deal with Pfizer for 100 million vaccine doses and hopes to immunize the entire population against COVID-19 by the end of the year, Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga announced on Friday.

"We are also going to acquire more vaccine doses through bilateral agreements, such as through a new agreement that will be signed with Pfizer for 100 million doses. Therefore, when we speak about vaccination, we are talking about hope. We do have enough vaccines on the horizon and we hope that by the end of this year we will have vaccinated the entire population," Queiroga said at a WHO press briefing.

On Monday, Brazilian medical regulator Anvisa unanimously rejected a request by a regional government to import Russia's Sputnik V vaccine. The Russian Direct Investment Fund called the decision politically-motivated, citing a US Department of Health report that the US had attempted to persuade Brazil not to use the Russian vaccine.

Currently, Brazil comes second in terms of coronavirus-related deaths, following the US, and third in terms of confirmed cases, after the US and India. In total, the country has registered over 400,000 deaths and some 14.5 million COVID-19 cases since the start of the pandemic.