BRASILIA • Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has issued a decree that will set aside 1.9 billion reais (S$488 million) to buy and eventually produce the potential Covid-19 vaccine being developed by AstraZeneca and Oxford University researchers.

Brazil's Acting Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said the vaccine could be available for Brazilians by December or January.

He called the vaccine "the most promising in the world" to fight the virus.

"January is the best bet. The vaccine is the solution to end the pandemic," General Pazuello said during Mr Bolsonaro's weekly live chat on Facebook.

AstraZeneca's candidate is seen as the front runner in the global race to deliver an effective vaccine against the coronavirus.

On Thursday, the British drugmaker struck a deal to produce the vaccine in China.

Gen Pazuello said Brazil would initially receive 100 million doses, which would allow for the vaccination of half the country's population, and then produce the vaccine locally.

Mr Bolsonaro, who has repeatedly minimised the gravity of the pandemic, said again that the collateral damage of widespread unemployment caused by lockdowns enforced by state governors and mayors was worse than the virus itself.

Yet Brazil is approaching 100,000 deaths from Covid-19 in the world's worst coronavirus outbreak after the United States.

On Thursday, the Health Ministry reported 53,139 confirmed new cases and 1,237 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Brazil has registered nearly three million confirmed cases since the pandemic began, while the official death toll has risen to more than 98,000, according to ministry data.

REUTERS