Brazil appears to have jumped the gun by officially announcing the dispatch of a plane to transport two million doses of the Covid-19 vaccine from India, and New Delhi made it clear on Thursday that decisions on supplies to foreign countries will take longer.
A statement issued by Brazil’s Foreign Ministry on Wednesday said that a Azul Airlines Airbus A330neo aircraft equipped with special containers was ready to fly back from Mumbai with two million doses of vaccine from the Serum Institute of India and arrive in the country. on January 16.
People familiar with the developments said, on condition of anonymity, that supplies contracted by foreign countries, including Brazil, would be provided by India in due course, although a deadline for this has not yet been defined.
“India remains committed to helping the world and all countries will receive the vaccines,” said one of the people quoted above.
The office of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced on January 8 that he had written a letter to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi to expedite a shipment of two million doses of AstraZeneca’s Covishield vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India. Bolsonaro faces pressure to launch the vaccine from political rivals, including some who have shown a preference for the Chinese vaccine.
“TO [ensure] the immediate implementation of the National Immunization Program of Brazil, I would greatly appreciate your good offices to expedite the shipment of two million doses of the vaccine produced by the Serum Institute of India to Brazil urgently, but as long as it does not affect the Indian program vaccination, ”Bolsonaro wrote in the letter in Portuguese.
The statement from the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, also in Portuguese, said that the Health Ministry had “purchased” the doses from the Serum Institute of India and that the Brazilian embassy had “made arrangements with the Indian authorities and the Serum Institute of India. , following the letter from President Jair Bolsonaro to Prime Minister Narendra Modi ”.
The statement also spoke of plans to distribute the vaccines to the states of Brazil within five days after the support of the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) to start immunization throughout the country, simultaneously and free of charge. He also described India’s “successful dose acquisition” as a demonstration of “excellent” relations between Brazil and India.
When asked about the matter during a weekly press conference, Foreign Ministry spokesman Anurag Srivastava said it was too early to discuss vaccine exports, as India’s immunization program is set to launch on Saturday. .
“You will recall that the prime minister had already declared that India’s vaccine production and delivery capacity will be used for the benefit of all humanity in fighting this crisis,” said Srivastava.
“As you know, the vaccination process is just beginning in India. It is too early to give a specific answer on supplies to other countries, as we are still evaluating production and delivery schedules. We will make decisions about it in due time, this may take some time. “
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