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The interim Minister of Health, Eduardo Pazuello, met today in Rio de Janeiro with the president of Fiocruz (Oswaldo Cruz Foundation), Nísia Trindade Lima, to discuss the production schedule for the vaccine that is still being tested against covid-19 in Brazil. The forecast is that, if it has proven its effectiveness, the first doses will be distributed in early 2021, through the National Immunization Program, which serves the SUS (Unified Health System).
The forecast is to initially produce 100 million doses from imported inputs. Complete production of the vaccine at the Bio-Manguinhos scientific-technical unit in Rio should begin in April 2021.
“Fiocruz is mobilizing all its technological and industrial resources in favor of the population’s access to the vaccine in the shortest time possible. We are talking with Anvisa and technological partners to reduce the time of production, registration and distribution of the vaccine,” he said the president of Fiocruz.
The agreement between Fiocruz and AstraZeneca is the result of negotiations between the Brazilian government and the British government, announced on June 27 by the Ministry of Health. The association foresees the signing of a technology order agreement, in the first week of September, and the development of a platform for other vaccines, such as malaria.
For the production and acquisition of the vaccine against covid-19 produced by the AstraZeneca laboratory and the University of Oxford, the Brazilian government released an extraordinary loan of R $ 1.9 billion.
