The national drive to inoculate Brazilians against Covid-19 will begin with the administration of vaccines made in China and India, Reuters reported on Wednesday, citing Brazilian Deputy Health Minister Elcio Franco.

The news agency says the first inoculations will be done as soon as the Brazilian health industry regulator, Anvisa, gives permission for emergency use of the vaccines.

The report says Anvisa officials will meet on Sunday to consider requests for permission, including the request made by Instituto Butantan, a biomedical research centre in Brazil, for permission to use CoronaVac, a vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech Ltd of China.

Mr Franco expects the 6 million doses of CoronaVac that Brazil has already imported to be administered in the first stage of the vaccination drive, the report says.

The plan for the drive, which calls for the vaccination of all Brazilians within 16 months, will be disclosed soon, Reuters quotes Mr Franco as saying.