Fiocruz holds talks in bid to bring doses of Oxford vaccine earlier
President of Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) Nísia Trindade said the institution has been negotiating with AstraZeneca the possibility of receiving 15 million ready-made vaccine doses to guarantee immunization before the active pharmaceutical ingredient comes to Brazil, which should allow the production of vaccines in BioManguinhos, linked to Fiocruz, in Rio de Janeiro.
“[This is just] until this gap is bridged, with the purpose of bringing the vaccine to our people the quickest way possible, and also to start production as quickly as possible,” she told the press Saturday (Jan. 23), shortly before the beginning of the distribution of 2 million doses of vaccine AstraZeneca to Brazilian states. The vaccine arrived in Brazil from India on Friday (22), and was dispatched for Rio de Janeiro on Saturday.
The measures are said to be laid out in AstraZeneca’s general agreement memorandum, for shipment and then for technology transfer, when all stages are conducted in BioManguinhos, Nísia Trindade said. “It’s all part of the contract. First we’ll be receiving 15 million doses,” she said. However, she added, AstraZeneca has signaled that shipments could be brought forward, thus reaching 110.4 million doses of the vaccine. “This signal shows that having it sent earlier may be possible—not just now, but as soon as the export process is settled,” she revealed.
In the president’s view, the institution’s main concern at the moment is speeding up the arrival of the active pharmaceutical ingredient so that Fiocruz may manufacture the vaccines. The item is expected to come by February 8, but no fixed date has been officially announced, she said, adding that the process goes through a number of stages in China, in addition to diplomatic issues, which is why estimating exactly how long it may be concluded is difficult.
Delivery
The vaccines developed by Oxford University and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca in collaboration with Fiocruz, which arrived in Rio de Janeiro on Saturday (23), started being distributed to the states on the same day.
“The vaccine arrived really late, but we managed to execute all activities quickly. We were shipping the vaccines early in the afternoon,” Trindade stated.
