Brazil races for vaccine

BRASILIA/RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil made a diplomatic push on Monday to guarantee an Indian-made shipment of British drugmaker AstraZeneca’s COVID-19 vaccine, hoping to avoid export restrictions that could delay immunisations during the world's second-deadliest outbreak.

In parallel, Brazil's private clinics struck a preliminary deal for an alternative injection made by India’s Bharat Biotech despite a lack of public results from late-stage trials.

The scramble by Brazil’s government and private sector underscored how Latin America’s largest nation, once an example of mass immunisation success in the developing world, has fallen behind peers in the race to inoculate against the coronavirus.

Picture: REUTERS Picture: REUTERS/Andrew Couldridge Picture: Steve Parsons/Pool via REUTERS A government public health information message is seen on a roadside sign, amid the spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) pandemic, in London, Britain on January 4. Teacher Wendy Couldridge watches on a device as Britain’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson announces a lockdown in England, amid the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) outbreak, in Hertford, Britain, on January 4. Brian Pinker, 82, receives the Oxford University/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from nurse Sam Foster at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, Britain on January 4.