(Yicai Global) Jan. 7 -- Brazil will purchase 100 million doses of Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac Biotech’s novel coronavirus vaccine following the successful outcome of final stage clinical trials in the country last month, the Brazilian health minister said yesterday.

The Butantan Institute in the state of Sao Paulo will receive 46 million doses in April and a further 54 million before the end of the year, Eduardo Pazuello said.

All the vaccines will be incorporated into the national immunization plan and will be fairly distributed throughout the country, he added.

There has been some controversy in Brazil over which vaccine to use. Sao Paulo, the country’s wealthiest and most populous state, has been forging ahead with a mass inoculation program due to start later this month that will use Sinovac’s CoronaVac jab.

It seems that much of the country will follow suit. President Jair Bolsonaro, who had previously been in favor of a UK vaccine developed by AstraZeneca, issued a decree on Jan. 6 permitting the federal government to purchase Covid-19 vaccines without the prior approval of the country’s National Health Surveillance Agency, Pazuello said.

Brazil has the world's second-highest Covid-19 death toll after the US and yesterday topped 200,000 mortalities.

Editor: Kim Taylor