COVID: Brazil Approves And Rolls Out AstraZeneca And Sinovac Vaccines

A nurse received the first dose of Brazil's Covid-19 immunization program vaccine after two jabs were granted emergency approval by health regulators.

Regulator Anvisa gave the Oxford-AstraZeneca and Chinese Sinovac vaccines a green light, the doses of which will be administered in all 27 nations, reports BBC.

Later than many of its international peers, Brazil's vaccine program has begun.

This is despite the seriousness of their outbreak and the second-highest death rate in the world.

As Brazil has gone through a devastating second wave of the virus, Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, who has played down the pandemic from the beginning, has come under renewed fire in recent months.

Authorities reported 551 new fatalities on Sunday, the first time in six days that it had fallen short of 1,000.

In all, more than 209,000 Covid-related deaths have been recorded in Brazil, a raw total figure only exceeded by the US.

Over 8.4 million infections have been confirmed since the start of the pandemic - the third-highest tally in the world.