Covid-19: The Butantan Institute Says Bolsonaro’s Attacks on China Make Vaccination Difficult in Brazil | Society

Butantan Institute president Dimas Covas said on Thursday that the Bolsonaro government’s attacks on China were already causing delays and cuts in the delivery of raw materials needed to manufacture vaccines. According to Covas, only doses of Coronavac, the main vaccine used in Brazil, are available until May 14. The institute expected to receive a new shipment of active ingredients, also used in the production of AstraZeneca, on May 10, but the date was postponed to May 13. The initial volume, which was 6,000 liters, has also been reduced to 2,000 liters. “Obviously there are changes which are not changes in the production of Sinovac [laboratorio chino asociado al instituto], but rather the consequences of the lack of alignment of the federal government ”, he affirmed, after having delivered Thursday morning one million doses of Coronavac to the Secretary of State for Health of São Paulo.

After the Minister of the Economy, Paulo Guedes, was recorded at the end of April declaring that the Chinese “invented” the coronavirus and that the vaccine that the Asian country is developing is less effective than that of the American Pfizer – he has for example the sequel admitted to using an “unfortunate image” – Bolsonaro hinted Wednesday, without mentioning China, that the virus was created “in a laboratory”. “It’s a new virus, no one knows if it was born in a lab or if it was born because a human ingested an inappropriate animal. But it is there. The military knows what chemical, bacteriological and radiological warfare is. Are we perhaps facing a new war? In which country has GDP increased the most? I won’t tell you, ”the president said. China is the country with the strongest economic growth in 2020.

Dimas Covas refuted the president’s statements on Thursday: “These statements contain many lies. First, that the virus was produced in China and that it is part of a biological war, it’s delusional ”. São Paulo Governor João Doria, a political opponent of Bolsonaro, has expressed “concern” about the federal government’s position. “This has created a deep unease within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in diplomacy with China,” lamented the governor during the delivery of new doses of Coronavac.

The statements also sparked discontent in Brazilian agribusiness. This Thursday, the senators of the External Relations Committee questioned the Brazilian Minister of Foreign Affairs, Carlos Alberto França, who had been summoned, on the president’s statements. The chairman of the committee, Senator Kátia Abreu, who represents rural producers, said she had received numerous messages “from the agri-food sector” expressing concern over the president’s statements. The foreign minister, however, played down Bolsonaro’s speech and said he “trusts the association [con China] it will get bigger and bigger ”.

Former Minister of Health Luiz Henrique Mandetta, who was present last Tuesday in the parliamentary commission of inquiry into covid-19, which is investigating in the Senate into the responsibility of Bagrano in the pandemic, indicated that the Ministry of Foreign Relations and MP Eduardo Bolsonaro also damaged relations with China when he was in the ministry. According to Mandetta, the absence of a document from Brazil addressed to the Asian country was the seed of the diplomatic crisis which then posed problems for the importation of medical supplies into the country.

The arbitrator also expressed his concern on Wednesday that the confrontation with the Asian country makes it difficult to import vaccine raw materials from China precisely when there is a shortage of doses in Brazil. “Now is not the time to hit anyone,” yelled the chairman of the commission of inquiry, Omar Aziz, who believes that the president’s position may lead to other problems because of the importance of China as the country’s economic partner. Former Foreign Minister Ernesto Araujo will testify next week and will likely be asked about conflicts with China in the midst of the crisis. “You cannot despise a trading partner like China,” argued Aziz.

This Thursday, João Doria said he contacted the Chinese Embassy in Brazil directly to stress that “the Butantan Institute has nothing to do” with the president’s statements. “We are at the mercy of this situation. After the 14th, we will not have any more raw material to process. The fault lies with our federal government which, unfortunately, is dragging in the opposite direction, ”Dimas Covas insisted.

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