White House to Send 3 Million Johnson & Johnson COVID Vaccine Doses to Brazil That Faces Massive Surge in Cases

The White House is sending Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccines to Brazil on Thursday, June 24, as the country continuously experiences an uptick in COVID cases.

A White House official confirmed that at least 3 million doses of the one-shot vaccine will be sent to the South American nation, Reuters reported.

The donation of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine came after Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro requested Pfizer to speed up the delivery of the vaccines they ordered, to quicken the inoculation among Brazilian citizens.

White House to Send Johnson & Johnson Vaccine to Brazil

The three million doses of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccine that will be sent by the White House were part of the 80 million vaccine doses pledge by the United States government to Brazil. The vaccine doses are expected to depart Fort Lauderdale, Florida on Thursday evening via Azul Airlines.

The White House noted that scientific teams, as well as legal and regulatory authorities from both countries, worked together to ensure swift delivery of the Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccines from the U.S. to Brazil.

Brazil has extended the validity of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine to four and half months. The extension prolongs its shelf life from three months to give the country more time to use the first batch that arrived last week.

Brazil's extension of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine's validity reflects the U.S. FDA's validity extension.

"We are sharing these doses not to secure favors or extract concession," said the unnamed official, adding that the Johnson & Johnson vaccines from the U.S. "do not come with strings attached."

The official further noted that they will send the vaccine doses to Brazil to save lives. The officials also said that the vaccines they will send to the South American nation are safe and effective against the notorious diseases.

It can be recalled that last April, the production of Johnson & Johnson vaccines in their Baltimore plant was stopped due to a production error. Because of this, millions of Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses were ruined.

The Johnson & Johnson COVID vaccines that the White House will give to Brazil will be brought to Campinas, a Brazilian city 62 miles away from Sao Paulo.

More Than 100,000 New COVID Cases in Brazil

Brazil has recorded more than 100,000 new COVID cases in the last 24 hours. Brazil's health ministry confirmed on Wednesday, June 23, that there are at least 115,228 new COVID cases in the country.

Brazil was also hailed to have the highest COVID death toll outside the United States. The country's health ministry also revealed that there are more than half a million lives lost due to the coronavirus.

Apart from the data on the death toll, the health ministry of Brazil also said that only 12 percent of Brazilians were fully vaccinated against COVID-19. But some states have accelerated their inoculation, such as Sao Paulo with the prediction of immunizing all of their adults by September.

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