I thank the Chinese government for its compassion and the efforts of Brazilian ministers.” Brazilian President Bolsonaro sent two consecutive tweets on the 25th to thank China for its prompt approval of the export of active ingredients of the coronavirus vaccine to Brazil.
The Brazilian government had previously been skeptical of Chinese vaccines and said it would not buy Chinese vaccines. However, according to Reuters on the 25th, Brazil, which has been hit hard by the COVID-19 epidemic, now relies almost entirely on the vaccine Kelif, developed by China’s Kexing Company.
After Bosonaro tweeted, Yang Wanming, China’s ambassador to Brazil, said that China is fighting the coronavirus epidemic with Brazil, and unity is the right way to fight the epidemic.
Bolsonaro said on Twitter on Monday that the Chinese Embassy in Brazil informed the Brazilian government on the same day that 5,400 litres of active ingredients for the production of Kochen vaccine have been approved and delivered and will arrive in Brazil in the next few days.
The Butantan Institute in Brazil said that these active ingredients are enough to ensure that the Institute produces about 8.5 million doses of “Kerleif” vaccine.
The Butan Institute signed a contract with Kochen Company for 46 million doses of vaccine. The first 6 million doses have been distributed throughout Brazil, and the rest will be produced by the Butantan Institute itself.
Bolsonaro also said on the 25th that China is also speedily approving to supply Brazil with active ingredients for the production of the Oxford-AstraZeneca vaccine.
The Brazilian coronavirus research institute, the Fiocruz Foundation, is said to have reached an agreement with AstraZeneca to produce up to 100 million doses of vaccine developed by the latter.
Fiocruz said on Monday that China is expected to ship the active ingredients needed for the vaccine to Brazil around February 8.
Fiocruz previously said that the vaccine could be delivered in March, but now says it will wait for China to ship before giving a more specific production schedule.
According to the Brazilian news website “G1” on the 17th of this month, Brazil’s National Health Supervision Authority approved the emergency use of the “Kelraif” coronavirus vaccine produced by Kochen and the coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford University in cooperation with AstraZeneca in the United Kingdom.
Although Brazil has carried out vaccination work, the shortage of finished and raw materials for the coronavirus vaccine has caused concerns from all walks of life in Brazil. Previously, it was reported that due to the lack of raw materials, Brazil has not yet put an Oxford vaccine into production.
After Bolsonaro’s tweets were released, Brazilian Foreign Minister Araujo and Agriculture Minister Christina successively retweeted and commented positively on the relations between the two countries.
Arauro said that China’s move shows that Brazil’s relations with China are very constructive. Christina said that she was especially grateful to the Chinese Embassy in Brazil, which is extremely important for all Brazilians.
Yang Wanming, China’s ambassador to Brazil, said in an article that China is working with Brazil to fight against the COVID-19 epidemic and will continue to help Brazil within its capabilities. Unity is the right way to fight the epidemic.
Bolsonaro thanked China for his tweets for attracting strong attention from Brazilian netizens. Many netizens expressed their gratitude one after another, and some even said that they were moved to cry.
Some netizens said, “The Chinese government’s sympathy makes you want to cry. They just want to do the best for their people and the world. World peace. ( They are) angels, always full of humane care.
Other netizens said: “If it had not been for the Chinese government, Brazil would not have had personal protective equipment at the beginning of the COVID-19 epidemic, and now there would not have been partial vaccines.”
According to the São Paulo Page, in the past few days, Governor Doria of São Paulo, government ministers, Speaker of the House of Representatives and others have held consultations with China through different channels to promote China’s export of vaccine active ingredients to Brazil.
According to the Butan Institute, it will take about 20 days to produce a vaccine when the raw materials arrive.
Theoretically, the newly produced vaccine will be ready in the third week of February. In addition, the active ingredients of Oxford vaccine imported from China are enough to ensure the production of 7.4 million doses of vaccine.
Brazil is one of the countries with the worst COVID-19 epidemic in the world.
According to the latest data reported by the Brazilian Ministry of Health on the 25th, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the country exceeds 8.87 million, and the cumulative death toll exceeds 217,000.
Reuters said that the second wave of the epidemic in Brazil is coming, but there are currently few people vaccinated against the country’s 210 million people.
The attitude of the Brazilian federal government towards the epidemic and vaccines is gradually changing. According to the Brazilian news website “G1”, the Brazilian federal government was only betting on the Oxford vaccine due to domestic political struggles.
However, according to AFP on the 26th, the results of trials conducted in Brazil show that the Kochen vaccine is very effective in preventing moderate and severe cases.
On the 7th of this month, Brazilian Health Minister Pazulo announced that the Brazilian federal government has signed an agreement with the Butantan Institute to purchase 100 million doses of Kochen vaccine.
According to São Paulo Page, Bossonaro has asked the Brazilian Foreign Ministry to change its attitude towards China, and Foreign Minister Arauro is trying to resume dialogue with China.
Diplomats and military advisers expect that the consultation on the effective ingredients of the vaccine is the beginning of a more pragmatic policy towards China by the Brazilian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
