Brazil decree to provide US$356 million for coronavirus vaccine

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro issued a decree on Thursday (August 6) to provide BRL1.9 billion (US$356 million) in funds to purchase and eventually produce a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca PLC and Oxford University researchers.

Brazil decree to provide US$356 million for coronavirus vaccine

Brazil's Acting Health Minister General Eduardo Pazuello said the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is the most promising in the world to fight the virus and the technology will be acquired by Brazil, which is facing the worst outbreak outside the United States.

* Brazil reported 53,139 new cases of the novel coronavirus and 1,237 deaths from the disease caused by the virus in the past 24 hours, the health ministry said on Thursday.

Brazil has registered 2,912,212 confirmed cases of the virus since the pandemic began, while the official death toll from COVID-19 has risen to 98,493, according to ministry data. It is the world's worst coronavirus outbreak after the United States.

Reuters