Vaccinations start as Brazil faces shortages

After weeks of setbacks, many Brazilians cheered the first wave of inoculations, from bustling clinics in Sao Paulo to a spectacular shot planned at the foot of the Christ Redeemer statue overlooking Rio de Janeiro.

Minutes after federal health agency Anvisa approved the Sinovac vaccine on Sunday, 80-year-old Terezinha da Conceicao, was inoculated in Rio, followed by a 59-year-old nurse, Dulcinea da Silva, who works at the Ronaldo Gazolla Hospital.

The Health Ministry gave states the green light to start immunizing at 5 p.m. (2000 GMT). Although some began administering shots before that, the majority of Brazil's 26 states had yet to receive vaccine shipments as of Monday evening, delaying

the start of vaccinations for the elderly and frontline health workers.