BRASILIA: Brazil on Tuesday urged producers of COVID-19 vaccines to speed up their applications for use in the country, as a senior Health Ministry official vowed to improve dialogue with Pfizer after it complained of an onerous emergency use application.

President Jair Bolsonaro is under growing pressure to explain why Brazil has not begun vaccinating its population against the coronavirus.

In a news conference, Deputy Health Minister Elcio Franco said the government could only sign vaccine purchase agreements once producers have emergency use authorizations or full authorizations.