<p>SAO PAULO — Brazil’s federal government said Friday it has reached a deal to purchase 10 million doses of the Russian-made Sputnik V vaccine against COVID-19, though the shot is yet to be approved by the South American nation’s health agency.</p>
<p>The Brazilian Health Ministry said on Twitter that the jabs will be imported by União Química, a company that has lobbied the government to purchase the vaccines, though its own experience is based on other medical products.</p>
<p>Brazil’s government expects to receive 400,000 shots in April, 2 million in May and another 7.6 million by June.</p>
<p>The ministry said it would also evaluate possible production of the Sputnik V vaccine by União Química plants in Brazil.</p>
<p>Brazil has already secured contracts for 200 million vaccine doses, half made by AstraZeneca and half by Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac.</p>
<p>Russia has sent millions of doses of Sputnik V around the world, even as it vaccinates its own population. Analysts say Russia seeks to bolster its image as a benevolent technological power at a time when COVID-19 jabs are in short supply because richer nations are stockpiling Western-made vaccines.</p>
<p>According to Our World in Data, an online research site that compares official government statistics, only 5.5% of Brazilians have been vaccinated, and the country experiences a deadly second wave of COVID-19 with more than 2,000 registered deaths in each of the last two days.</p>
<p>More than 270,000 people died of the disease in Brazil, with authorities expecting grim weeks in March and April.</p>
