BRASILIA: The Brazilian Ministry of Health on Thursday contracted for delivery between March and May to purchase 20 million doses of COVID-19 vaccine Covaxin, made by Bharat Biotech, India.
The ministry said in a statement that the deal is worth $ 1.6 billion ($ 290,000), with the first 8 million doses expected to arrive in March.
In order to accelerate the purchase of vaccines in Brazil and to combat the second deadly coronovirus outbreak in the world, the ministry said it published new rules along with the bidding process last week.
Brazil reported 1,541 new COVID-19 deaths on Thursday, taking the second-largest daily death toll since the epidemic, with 251,498 total fatalities.
With 65,998 new cases, the South American country has now recorded 10,390,461 cases, the world’s third worst outbreak behind the United States and India.