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SAO PAULO – Pfizer executives say they are working hard to reach an agreement to acquire lots of their Covid-19 vaccine with the Brazilian federal government and say they already have a proposal that solves the logistical problem of product distribution. However, the time left to close a deal is small.
– The time is short, a few days, or maybe a week – Alejandro Lizarraga, director of the vaccines area of Pfizer Brazil (2), told GLOBO this Wednesday.
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– Availability here depends on when an agreement with the federal government is closed, because the number of doses for all countries has decreased considerably due to the interest that exists from all countries – said the executive.
The main letter that Pfizer has in hand to persuade the Brazilian government is the deadline in which the company could deliver doses of the immunizer, which in the United Kingdom begins to be applied next week.
– For Brazil, we can consider a few weeks, reaching a month or more, up to two months, but without specifying exactly how long – said Márjori Dulcine, medical director of Pfizer Brazil.
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Two months is already a shorter period than that foreseen in the draft of the government vaccination plan for Covid-19, which provides for vaccination from March.
Márjori explains that the company already delivered documentation last week, starting the registration process, which in principle would require up to 60 days (three 20-day evaluation cycles) to take effect. With the new regulations of the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa), which as of today accepts applications for registration in case of emergency, this period may be shortened.
– We have already begun to study in detail what Anvisa published today on authorization of emergency use. If we assess that we meet the necessary criteria, we are interested in continuing with this presentation – says Márjori.
Sign unclear
Much of the Ministry of Health’s resistance to reaching an agreement with the company is due to the fact that Pfizer’s Covid-19 vaccine requires storage below -75 ° C for long-term preservation. According to Lizarraga, a logistics scheme anchored in a special dry ice cooling box, created by Pfizer itself, can equalize distribution in the SUS.
According to the executive, Pfizer has already signed agreements with other countries that have development conditions similar to those of Brazil (Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Panama, Mexico and Costa Rica) and it would not be a problem to adopt solutions similar to those promised in these soils of Brazil. other nations.
However, the current signaling by the Minister of Health, Eduardo Pazuello, does not make it clear if Pfizer would have a place on the current list of considered immunizers.
– Very few manufacturers have quantity and an effective delivery schedule for the country. When you come to the end of the negotiations and you go to the delivery and manufacturing schedule, the figures are scarce, it comes down to one, two, three (companies) – said Pazuello, in a hearing in the mixed committee of Congress that monitors government actions to combat Covid-19.
Brazil already has a closed agreement with the vaccine developed in partnership with the University of Oxford and Astrazeneca, and the São Paulo government is still trying to close an agreement for the national distribution of the Chinese CoronaVac vaccines to be produced by the Butantan Institute.
Pazuello has shown no signs of what this third vaccine would be, but speculated that it could try to acquire doses of the Pfizer vaccine through the Covax Facility, a consortium led by the World Health Organization (WHO) with the aim of accelerating the development of immunizers and universalize access. The US pharmaceutical company, however, has not yet reached an agreement with the international coalition. Within Covax, the vaccine closest to approval is from the American laboratory Moderna, which does not yet have Pfizer’s extensive production capacity.
