Fiocruz Announces Oxford Vaccine Production and Distribution Schedule | National newspaper

Researchers at Fiocruz work at an accelerated pace. They want to deliver Anvisa, at the beginning of December, the first results on the safety and efficacy of the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, in England, and by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca. According to the coordinators of the study, the tests carried out on almost 60,000 volunteers in seven countries have proven to be quite consistent, mainly among the elderly.

The weather in Fiocruz is cautious, but also very optimistic. Researchers hope that the vaccine will be approved in February next year and that it will be available to the population from March. The doses will be produced in the building where machinery and equipment are already being installed.

To save time, the vaccine is scheduled to start in January, even before Anvisa’s approval: 30 million doses must be delivered by the end of February; another 70 million in July. The forecast is that 110 million additional doses will be produced in the second half of 2021. The estimated cost is US $ 3 per dose.

“Anvisa has already told us that they will do everything possible so that, in a month, they can give the result”, says Rosane Cuber, deputy director of quality at Bio-Manguinhos.

“The important thing is that we have a vaccine with proven safety and efficacy so that no one has doubts about the product that is being administered to our population,” says Maurício Zuma, director of Bio-Manguinhos / Fiocruz.

Anvisa indicated that as soon as it receives a registration request, it will give full priority.