AZN AstraZeneca PLC

By Jeffrey T. Lewis and Luciana Magalhaes

SAO PAULO--Brazilian Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said Wednesday that the country could begin its Covid-19 immunization program by the end of December, one day after saying it might start at the end of February, as the outbreak in Brazil worsens.

Brazil has the second highest number of deaths from Covid-19 after the United States, and the government is facing pressure from critics who say the process of approving and choosing vaccines is taking too long as the total number of infected in the country has climbed over 6.6 million.

The federal government is currently in advanced talks with Pfizer Inc. about buying 70 million doses of the company's vaccine, and if the compound is approved quickly by Brazilian health agency Anvisa, immunization could start "at the end of December or in January," Mr. Pazuello said in an interview on CNN Brazil.

The assertion comes after Mr. Pazuello said Tuesday that the vaccination program could start at the end of February if Anvisa approves the use of a different vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca Plc., and after São Paulo Governor João Doria said Monday that a program to immunize his state's residents is scheduled to begin on Jan. 25.

Mr. Doria is widely expected to run against President Jair Bolsonaro in 2022, and analysts say a successful immunization program in his state could provide him with a boost in that contest.

The São Paulo program would use a vaccine developed by Chinese company Sinovac that has undergone phase three testing in Brazil. São Paulo's Butantan Institute, South America's biggest producer of vaccines, is carrying out the trial in Brazil and Mr. Doria's plan is to use the Sinovac vaccine in his state, assuming it's also approved by Anvisa.

The Butantan Institute is building a plant with the capacity to produce up to 100 million doses per year. Mr. Doria offered to supply Brazil's national health care system with the Sinovac vaccine, but President Jair Bolsonaro rejected the offer from his potential rival and has backed using the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Mr. Pazuello nevertheless said on Tuesday and on Wednesday that the health care system would use any approved vaccine if necessary.

The disputes and the confusion over the vaccines follow similar controversies about how best to deal with the pandemic. Mr. Bolsonaro has downplayed the severity of the coronavirus, even after being infected himself. He is on his third health minister after he fired one in April over disputes about efforts to control the spread of the virus, and the next one quit four weeks later over a disagreement on the use of Hydroxychloroquine to treat the illness caused by the virus.

"It's a war of vaccines, a new politicization of the vaccine, just as the pandemic was politicized," said Domingos Alves, a professor and physicist specializing in the analysis of health data at the Riberão Preto Medical School in São Paulo state. "The government is completely lost and giving in to pressure" to start vaccinating as soon as possible.

Write to Jeffrey T. Lewis at jeffrey.lewis@wsj.com and Luciana Magalhaes at luciana.magalhaes@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

December 09, 2020 14:50 ET (19:50 GMT)

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