SAO PAULO (Reuters) – The Brazilian state government of Sao Paulo on Wednesday signed a $90 million contract to obtain 46 million doses of a vaccine from China’s Sinovac Biotech Ltd.
Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, is one of the phase III clinical trial sites for the Sinovac vaccine conducted through the state-leading Butantan Institute, a leading biomedical center.
Wednesday’s deal is officially from an existing agreement in which Sinovac agreed to deliver 60 million doses until the end of February.
The governor of Sao Paulo, Joo Doria, said at a press convention that the state and Sinovac had a verbal agreement regarding the delivery of the remaining 14 million doses.
Sinovac Latin America Director Xing Han said last week that the effects of Phase III trials will be published in two months.
Brazilian state governments have competed to attract vaccine manufacturers, and the states of Bahia and Paraná have signed agreements to buy or produce the five Russian Sputnik vaccine.
Doria said she plans to start implementing the vaccine in December.
(Reporting through Eduardo Simes; Writing through Gram Slattery; Edited through Cynthia Osterman)