‎Brazil News

 

 

In May, the Ministry of Health set a record for the distribution of vaccines, with more than 33 million doses delivered, and, in June, it should surpass that number, with more than 40 million doses distributed throughout Brazil.

 

“The sudden arrival of Covid-19 shook not only Brazil, but the entire planet. Facing the unknown is always more challenging. Researchers and scientists have worked hard to understand the best ways to protect the population, contain the pandemic and fight the virus. In a simple analogy, the plane needed to be built and improved in mid-flight”, recalled Vice President Hamilton Mourão. “Today, after more than a year of studies, experiences and actions, we can say that the glass is half full. Soon we will safely resume our lives as before.”

 

“A brief journey through History shows us that humanity has already faced other severe epidemics and pandemics: Black Death, Cholera, Tuberculosis,

Smallpox, Spanish Flu, Typhus, Measles, Bubonic Plague, AIDS... in different degrees of contagion and lethality. What they all had in common was the surprise factor and the initial lack of knowledge on the part of society, authorities and scientists of their forms of prevention and combat”, highlighted Mourão. "In the same way that we beat other diseases in the past, today we are also moving towards defeating the coronavirus."

 

With the order of more than 600 million doses and the rapid pace of deliveries, the Ministry of Health expects that, by the end of this year, the entire Brazilian population over 18 years of age will be vaccinated.

 

Technology transfer

This Tuesday (1), the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) signed a technology transfer contract with the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca that will allow the manufacture in Brazil, by Fiocruz, of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (IFA) for the vaccine against Covid -19 developed by Oxford.

 

The IFA is the raw material needed to manufacture the vaccine. In other words, with the transfer of technology, Brazil gains autonomy both in the raw material and in the Oxford vaccine. This will, therefore, allow the immunizing agent to be 100% Brazilian. Until then, Fiocruz was producing the vaccine with the imported Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient.

 

Fiocruz's expectation is to start delivering the first 100% national doses in October. Fiocruz's facilities will have IFA production capacity for around 15 million doses of the vaccine per month.

 

“Our public universities are also working hard, some of them at an advanced stage, in the development of vaccines. Mastering the technology and the process of developing immunization agents will provide Brazil with independence, cost reduction and agility in combating the virus and mutations that may arise in the country”, completed the Vice President.

 

“In addition to mass vaccination, a series of measures have been adopted in favor of preserving the health of Brazilians and the country's economy.