A health worker receives a dose of COVID-19 vaccine from China in Istanbul, Turkey, Jan. 14, 2021.Photo:Xinhua

The global COVID-19 vaccination drive gained pace on Monday as Brazil gave its first injections and India pushed on with its massive campaign, while European authorities sought to allay concerns about delays in supplies. 

Brazil's health regulator gave the green light for the Oxford-­AstraZeneca vaccine and China's CoronaVac to be used as the Latin American giant suffers a devastating second wave of the coronavirus.

Monica Calazans, a 54-year-old intensive care nurse in Sao Paulo became the first person in Brazil to receive the Chinese CoronaVac jab after the Anvisa watchdog's highly anticipated ruling.

Growing concerns over different strains of the virus have meanwhile prompted governments to tighten curbs in a bid to stem a global death toll that has already surpassed two million. 

India's vaccination drive got off to a successful start on Saturday with more than 224,000 people receiving their first jabs and just three people hospitalized after side effects, the health ministry said Sunday.

The government plans to immunize some 300 million people out of its population of 1.3 billion by July - equivalent to almost the entire US population.

In Europe, both France and Russia were gearing up for a key week in the vaccine effort. 

Russia started mass immunizations on Monday using its homegrown Sputnik V vaccine, while the French government is hoping to overcome fierce criticism of a sluggish rollout as it begins inoculating the over-75s. 

Across the European Union, there have been concerns that delays in the delivery of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine could further slow a campaign which critics have condemned as less agile than in the US or Britain, a recently departed EU member.

US drugmaker Pfizer said it was working to "significantly" scale up production at its plant in Belgium in the second quarter.

After a short delay, deliveries should be back to the original schedule to the EU from January 25. 

"There's a dip," France's Europe minister Clement Beaune told Franceinfo radio.

"But it's better that it happens now when we have stockpiles than when the wider vaccination campaign starts."

Joe Biden's goal of seeing 100 million vaccine doses injected within his first 100 days in office is meanwhile "absolutely" achievable, top US scientist Anthony Fauci said, days before he is to become the new president's chief advisor on COVID-19.

"The feasibility of his goal is absolutely clear, there's no doubt about it," Fauci told NBC's Meet the Press.

Biden has unveiled a $1.9 trillion stimulus plan to revive the economy of the country worst-hit by the virus, which has killed more than 397,600 people in the US.