Brazil administers over 300 mln COVID-19 vaccine shots

vaccine

BRASILIA, Nov. 19 (Xinhua) -- Brazil has administered more than 300 million shots of COVID-19 vaccines since launching its vaccination campaign in January, the Health Ministry said Friday.

Some 157.6 million people have received a first dose, and 129.8 million are fully vaccinated, having received either both doses or a single-dose vaccine, representing 73.3 percent of the target population.

"With this milestone, we can say that the COVID-19 vaccination campaign is the largest this country has ever seen," Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga said.

The ministry said the South American country has distributed more than 360.6 million vaccine doses to Brazilian states.

On Saturday, the government will step up its campaign with the goal of having 85 percent of the population fully vaccinated.

The ministry announced this week that the booster shot is now available to everyone over 18 years of age, and 12.7 million people have already received it.