Brazil began production of 9 million coronavirus vaccines from Sinovac and received supplies of an additional 3 million from AstraZeneca

Brazil began production on Saturday of approximately 8.6 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine from Chinese laboratory Sinovac, and received input to manufacture the other 2.8 million more from AstraZeneca’s and Oxford University formula.

The Butantan Institute of Sao Paulo, one of the most important medical research centers in Brazil, will be in charge make the Sinovac vaccine, which is already managed in the country, just like the UK.

The prediction is that 8.6 million new doses will be released for the immunization of Brazilians from 23 February “, the Sao Paulo government informed in a statement.

So far a few ten million units of Sinovac’s antidote and others two million of these have been jointly developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.

According to data from the regional health secretariats, About 3.5 million Brazilians have received the first dose of some of these two vaccines.

In addition, the Butantan Institute plans to receive an additional 5,600 liters of raw material next Wednesday that will enable it to produce an additional 8.7 million doses of so-called “Coronavac”, also of Chinese origin.

Also this Saturday a batch arrived at Galeao International Airport, in Rio de Janeiro, with supplies 2.8 million doses of AstraZeneca vaccine to produce.

This is the first shipment shipped with the ingredients for the production of the British immunizer, which will be carried out by the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), another important reference center for scientific research in Brazil.

“It’s a moment of it high expectations and we are confident that we will produce this effective and safe vaccine for the National Immunization Program “, the president of Fiocruz declared, Nísia Trindade.

In addition, the entity plans to receive before the end of the month two other batches of stocks capable of making more than 15 million doses of the vaccine by March, the health ministry said in a note.

Brazil wants to build Latin America’s largest vaccine factory

In the same vein, on Friday the government of Brazil this Friday launched the tender to build the largest vaccine plant in Latin America, a complex in which it intends to invest 3.4 billion reais (approximately $ 629.6 million) and which it intends to start construction in the second half of this year.

The so-called Industrial Complex of Biotechnology in Health (CIBS), which will occupy an area of ​​580,000 square meters in Santa Cruz, a neighborhood in the western part of Rio de Janeiro, will be linked to the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), the largest medical research center in Latin America and dependent on the Ministry of Health.

The complex, described by the government as the largest organic production center in Latin America and one of the most modern in the world, will capacity to produce 120 million vaccines and biopharmaceuticals per year, which will quadruple the current production of Fiocruz.

“That production will strengthen Brazil’s self-reliance on immunobiological agents and reduce external dependence, and will include new products in the country’s portfolio of drugs that the country offers to the population for free, including vaccines and biopharmaceuticals for chronic, rare, autoimmune and oncological diseases, ”the Ministry of Health said in a statement.

The complex “will enable a rapid response to health emergencies such as those caused by the current COVID pandemicAdds the note.

According to official data, Brazil has 231,012 deaths related to Covid-19, with 978 recorded in the past 24 hours, and nearly 9.5 million confirmed cases of the disease, at a time when it faces a second wave of the pandemic.

Brazil, with a population of about 212 million, it is second country in the world with the highest number of deaths from the new coronavirus, after the United States, and the third most infected, after the United States and India.}

With information from EFE

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