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Three hundred employees work 12-hour shifts to produce CoronaVac, a vaccine against covid-19, at the Butantan Institute in western São Paulo. The team is divided into four groups and each one has 36 hours off for each period worked. Of that group, 150 people were hired last year.
The factory operates 24 hours a day, after being out of service for three weeks due to lack of supplies. Today, 3.4 million newly produced doses are beginning to be delivered to the Ministry of Health.
Butantan manufactures one million doses of CoronaVac per day. The institute, linked to the São Paulo government, wants to double production after finishing all the packaging of the vaccine against the influenza virus, which causes a type of flu. The forecast for this to happen is between April and May.
Under the spotlight, in the midst of the covid-19 pandemic, the institute celebrates its 120th anniversary this Tuesday (23).
The story began after a tragedy – in 1887, the daughter of the then president of the province of São Paulo, Rodrigues Alves, died of yellow fever – at that time, the multiplication of cases became an epidemic and killed thousands of Brazilians . Then he created a laboratory to investigate these types of diseases, with the main names in science in the country.
Face recognition system and lead port
To get to CoronaVac and the supplies – or IFA (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient) -, it is necessary to go through a strict security scheme.
Upon entering one of the storage spaces, CoronaVac’s Formulation and Packaging center manager, Ênio Xavier, shows the badge to a sensor and subsequently lowers his protective mask for facial recognition. The entrance is through a lead door that weighs two tons. Indoors, at a temperature of 5 ºC, rest in aluminum boxes – all locked doses and supplies.
THE Twitter visited the factory facilities, in the west of São Paulo, on Friday (19). To enter, it was necessary to look like the employees: with a white overalls, two shoe sole protectors, two protective masks, a beard guard and a cap.
02/19/2021 – The director of formulation and packaging, the scientist Ênio Xavier, presents to the report the room where the CoronaVac doses are kept
Image: Leonardo Martins / UOL
IFA is the substance used to produce the vaccine and it arrived ready from China, sent by the Sinovac Biotech laboratory, Butantan’s partner in the development of CoronaVac. With the product in hand, Butantan’s job is to complete the production process and place the immunizer inside the bottles.
For this, there is a huge machine that runs through two rooms, with an atmospheric pressure different from that of other places.
In one of the rooms, where the entrance is beginning to fill, there are two scientists in medical clothes identical to those of a nuclear power plant. There, a machine monitors and filters the air in the room so that there are no microorganisms present in the air and contaminate the vaccines; at the slightest sign of airborne particles, an alarm goes off.
19.02.2021 – Duo of scientists stay in an isolated room following the machine that closes the CoronaVac bottles
Image: Leonardo Martins / UOL
Even the speed with which these scientists move matters. They cannot gesticulate or walk quickly so as not to release particles into the air. Wearing gloves, they should rub 70% alcohol on their hands every time they play an instrument. They then remain seated, palms up, until the compost dries completely.
From there, the vaccine is ready and goes through a conveyor belt to another room. At this stage, three scientists separate the doses into boxes and send them for inspection, which will check if there are any foreign particles inside the bottle or if the glass is damaged.
For this, there is a team of nine people (mostly women) who carry out this work manually, every three bottles. “After inspection, the control is released so that the dose is labeled and packaged. And then they are inserted into the boxes, only after leaving Butantan and heading to the shipment to all corners of the country ”, Ênio Xavier said.
Political struggle
Butantan does not disclose expenses with CoronaVac; According to the notice, part of the money is invested in imported supplies and the contract with the Chinese laboratory Sinovac establishes confidentiality.
Governor João Doria (PSB) promised that munize the entire state of São Paulo, but, until yesterday, not even 4% of the population had been vaccinated.
The Health Ministry published a national immunization plan last week, but it included more doses than should be available in February.
CoronaVac was the first vaccine applied in Brazil, on January 17. Furthermore, Oxford / AstraZeneca is also produced nationally, by Fiocruz (Fundação Oswaldo Cruz), in Rio de Janeiro.
First-line vaccinated
Employees working in the CoronaVac production have already received the first dose of the immunizer, with the approval of the São Paulo government, which understood that the work is considered “first line” in the fight against the pandemic.
02/19/2021 – Sector responsible for the revision of CoronaVac bottles at Instituto Butantan
Image: Leonardo Martins / UOL
The political opponent of Doria, the President of the Republic, Jair Bolsonaro (without a party), has already called the immunizer “Doria’s vaChina” and even said that he would not buy the product, since it was produced in partnership with a Chinese laboratory.
Trying to keep their distance from the political struggle, most scientists say they “don’t give a damn” about the criticism.
This kind of thing doesn’t affect us because we believe in what we do. We trust the professionals. We are dedicated to our work and we abstract ourselves from everything that is not positive for us at that moment.
Ênio Xavier, core manager of Formulation and Packaging at CoronaVac
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