Covid-19: Fiocruz and AstraZeneca sign agreement for vaccine production

Last Friday (31), Fiocruz, the Ministry of Health, and AstraZeneca signed an agreement for the transfer of technology and production of 100 million doses of the vaccine against Covid-19 developed by the company and the University of Oxford. An investment of R$ 522 million is planned in the infrastructure of Bio-Manguinhos, a unit producing immunizers.
"We have taken another important step towards formalizing the agreement between the laboratories. This action by the federal government means a breakthrough for the development of national technology and protection of the Brazilian population," said Camile Giaretta, Director of Science and Technology at the Ministry of Health.
The agreement provides that, if it proves effective and safe, the vaccine will be produced in Brazil from December. In the first two months, 30 million doses are expected, while an additional 70 million immunizations are expected in the first half of 2021.
In addition, Fiocruz received the technical information necessary to define the equipment needed for the production of astrazeneca vaccine. With this, the institution will be available for the production of the vaccine, increasing the capacity to provide immunity to Brazilians.
Finally, a technical-scientific monitoring committee associated with vaccines for the new coronavirus was established. The coordination was the participation of Marco Krieger, Vice President of Production and Innovation in Health at Fiocruz, and has the participation of specialists from USP, UFRJ and UFG.
In the global race to secure doses of vaccines against coronavirus, Russia announced on Saturday (1st) that it plans to start mass vaccination as early as October. With the communiqué, carried out by Health Minister Mikhail Murashko, Russia could become the first country to start a campaign to immunize the population against the Sars-Cov-2 virus.
According to the minister, the National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology Gamalei has finalized the clinical trials and is taking care of the documentation to start the vaccination campaign. According to the international press, health professionals and teachers should compose the first group to be immunized.