Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro has requested India for 2 million doses of Covishield vaccine produced indigenously by the Serum Institute of India, Pune.

Mr. Bolsonaro has written a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi to expedite the shipment of the Covishield vaccine to Brazil without affecting India's vaccination program.

Mr. Bolsonaro's letter, released by his press office, comes amid growing pressure to speed up Brazil's vaccine rollout and end the world's second-deadliest coronavirus outbreak. Brazilian National Immunization Program has finalized the Covishield and Covaxin for emergency use in the country.

Earlier, the federally funded Fiocruz biomedical center had requested an emergency use authorization for the Covishield vaccine coming from India.