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(Marcelo Camargo / Agência Brasil)
SÃO PAULO – General Eduardo Pazuello, Minister of Health, said that the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) should take 60 days to approve the use of any vaccine against Covid-19, according to information from Folha S. de Paulo.
In a virtual meeting with governors, the minister exchanged comments with João Doria (PSDB), governor of São Paulo, about CoronaVac, a vaccine produced by the Chinese laboratory Sinovac, in association with the Butantan Institute.
During his intervention, Pazuello did not detail whether the 60 days were related to the definitive registration of the vaccine, or to the analysis for emergency use, which would be a faster process.
“So Anvisa, within its responsibility, will need time. Tour about 60 days [para aprovar]”, Affirmed the minister, according to leafand amended saying it was “for any vaccine”.
However, in explaining the government’s deadline to start vaccination in March 2021, the minister specifically mentioned only the Oxford vaccine, in association with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. The English vaccine is the main commitment of the federal government, which approved an investment of R $ 1.9 billion for the import and local production of the immunizer, in alliance with Fiocruz.
Pazuello noted that the Oxford vaccine is in phase 3 (the last one before approval for use by the population) and that the tests are being redone due to a dosage error in the preliminary analysis, but that the process must be completed. in the end. of this month.
critics
The federal government’s delay in making decisions related to vaccines in Brazil has come under fire. The United Kingdom, for example, which began to vaccinate the population on Tuesday (8) with the immunizer Pfizer, took less than a month to approve the use of the vaccine in case of emergency after having presented its studies in the agency of local health.
Asked by Flávio Dino (PCdoB), governor of Maranhão, about CoronaVac, Pazuello said that he will not stop evaluating the purchase of the Chinese immunizer, but stressed that he is still waiting for the results of phase 3.
According to him, the country will have 300 million doses by the end of 2021, adding the 160 million vaccine from AstraZeneca and another 42 million from Pfizer through the international consortium Covax Facility.
At the meeting, the governor of SP also asked the Minister of Health if the federal government was favoring Western companies for any political issue and highlighted the federal investment in AstraZeneca and Pfizer, neither of which has the approval of Anvisa, like CoronaVac. .
The governor of São Paulo also criticized the fact that the Union pledged to invest R $ 2.5 billion in the Covax Facility, which has access to a group of nine vaccines under development, not including CoronaVac.
“The consortium’s vaccines have not yet been approved by Anvisa. The Ministry of Health, together with AstraZeneca, announced an investment of R $ 1.2 billion and has already made the payment. This vaccine is not approved by Anvisa either. CoronaVac had no federal investment and was not approved by Anvisa either. What is different from the condition of privileging two vaccines over another vaccine? Is it a political, ideological reason or is it a lack of interest in making more vaccines available? Doria asked.
Pazuello returned the questions and cited the State Immunization Plan presented by Doria on Monday (7) from January 25. “Trying to accelerate is fair, but we cannot compromise on safety and efficiency. We will be responsible for our actions, ”he said, according to Folha.
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