Coronavirus: India sends Brazil the first shipment …

The India plans to send this Friday on First shipment of locally made coronavirus vaccines to Brazil, after Indian authorities authorized the drug’s first commercial export.

India’s Foreign Ministry confirmed this first vaccine shipment after the government approved their commercial export, although it did not provide details on the shipment or its departure time for Brazil.

Brazil announced Thursday that it expected to receive two million doses of the vaccine from Anglo-Swedish laboratory AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford on Friday., produced at the Serum Institute of India (SII), the world’s largest vaccine manufacturer by volume.

The executive power of the Brazilian president Jair Bolsonaro chartered a plane last Friday to collect the two million dosesBut the expedition was suspended at the last minute by the Indian authorities because it coincided with the vaccination campaign in that country.

Brazil had also announced its interest in acquiring doses of the Covaxin vaccine, developed by the Indian pharmaceutical company Bharat Biotech, which has been cleared for “emergency use” by Indian regulators even though the formula has not yet completed clinical trials.

Although Brazilian pharmaceutical company Precisa Medicamentos and Bharat Botech announced on January 10 that they had signed an agreement to acquire Covaxin units, Indian authorities have not indicated whether the Covaxin vaccines were part of the first shipment.

Brazil, with some 214,000 deaths, is the second country with the highest number of deaths from Covid-19, just behind the United States with 410,102 deaths, followed by India with more than 153,000.

India, which launched a massive vaccination program a week ago, has assured it will maintain its commitment as a global supplier while ensuring production for its people. This country of 1.35 billion people has so far successfully vaccinated more than a million health workers using doses of Covaxin and Covishield, a cocktail of antibodies to treat Covid-19.

Shipping to other countries

The Indian Ministry of Foreign Affairs recently reported that another shipment of vaccines will also be sent this Friday to Morocco, although he did not specify the number of doses.

The production of India, also called “pharmacy of the world” for its manufacturing capacity and low cost, is essential for vaccination campaigns in developing countries and has aroused the interest of many governments in acquiring their doses against the coronavirus.

“Indian vaccines are optimal for developing countries because they are safe and affordable,” Ecuador’s Ambassador to New Delhi, Héctor Cueva Jácome, said.

The prices of Covaxin and Covishield are among the cheapest in the world, being around $ 3 and $ 5 per unit, making them a good alternative to other formulas which can cost around $ 20 in doses.

“We have to take into account that vaccination will take time, so we need to establish a long-term vaccination plan that no longer affects the economies of countries,” added the ambassador.

India this week launched a diplomatic campaign to deliver subsidized coronavirus vaccines to Bangladesh, Bhutan, Maldives, Mauritius and Nepal.