Pfizer seeks Brazilian embassy in US to respond to vaccine offer

There is no doubt that the Brazilian government ignored Pfizer’s offer of vaccines that could have even reached Brazil last year, in response to Kovit’s CBI order. The first formal proposal was between August and the end of the contract in March this month, more than six months ago.

Pfizer’s first official offer was on August 14, 2020. The company offered to deliver 500,000 doses by 2020, with a response by August 29.

Not returning, on the 27th, Pfizer’s leaders in Latin America and Brazil asked the Brazilian embassy in Washington, DC, for help in obtaining a response.

On the 28th, the embassy sent a document to the Foreign Ministry on the orders of Ernesto Arazo. TV Globo had access to the text, “Pfizer leaders stressed the importance of the Brazilian government’s interest in purchasing the vaccine until 8/29, which is based on the Business Plan 8/14 submitted to the Ministries of Health and Economy”.

Pfizer’s leaders also warned: “At this point, the risk to Brazil, which does not guarantee the acquisition of the minimum purpose of the vaccine, will increase in the near future, as they point out, in the near future.”

But seeking help through the embassy had no effect. In a confession to the CBI last month, Carlos Murillo, head of Pfizer in Latin America, described subsequent failures in talks with the government.

Pfizer, who faced federal silence in Brasilia in November and later this year in February, presented new plans. But the Ministry of Health signed the agreement only in March.

One of the objectives of the CBI is to look into the shortcomings of the Central Government in procuring vaccines and consequently the delay in vaccination in the country. Experts say one reason Brazil has failed to fight the disease is precisely the lack of vaccines.

Government officials say negotiations between the government and Pfizer did not progress at the time due to legal hurdles in Brazilian law. Pfizer guarantees that the terms offered to Brazil are equivalent to those signed in many other countries.

“Brazil wants to force the hand that refused to negotiate with Pfizer. Senator Marcos Rosario (DEM-RO) said.

The opposition points out that the vaccine may have already been launched.

“Investigations with Pfizer’s CEO Carlos Murillo in Latin America have revealed that Pfizer has been trying to establish a relationship since March, May 2020, and has been trying to talk to the government about selling the vaccine. In December 2020, the government was able to present a national immunization program against the cobra only on the orders of SDF Minister Lewandowski. Until then, the government has refused to buy more vaccines, ”said Senator Rosario Oak (PT-SE).