The Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) starts this Monday (10) the production of 100% national vaccine against Covid-19. Initially, 20 million doses of the immunizing agent will be delivered to the Ministry of Health. The factory is prepared to produce one million doses a day.
Last Friday (7), the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) gave the approval for the use of the national Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (IFA) in the production of vaccines against Covid-19 produced by the foundation.
The vaccine preparation process begins with the thawing of the raw material, which was preserved awaiting approval. This procedure takes three days to complete. The forecast is that the entire process, which goes from production to quality control, will take around 20 days. In other words, the finalization should still take place in the month of January, so that the first deliveries are made between the 1st and 4th of February.
Fiocruz awaits the results of scientific experiments carried out in the United Kingdom to find out if it will be able to use the formula to vaccinate children and adolescents. Scientists also want to see if the vaccine will have some kind of adaptation to immunize the population against the Ômicron variant of the coronavirus.
In Brazil, there are already clinical studies with new formulations of the AstraZeneca vaccine – which, around here, is made by Fiocruz. It is possible that the answers will come in the near future. Fiocruz’s vice president for Production and Innovation, Marco Kriger, estimates that, if a new formula is more powerful, this signal should come in February. In March, therefore, it would already be possible to produce a vaccine adjusted with a national IFA.
Until then, clinical, safety and immune response equivalence studies are being conducted with the current formulation and new formats of the vaccine. Fiocruz still awaits the response of scientific tests in Oxford to understand the impact of the vaccine on children and adolescents.
In an interview with CNN, the president of the foundation, Nísia Trindade, confirmed the expectation. “AstraZeneca in the UK has been conducting clinical trials for the pediatric vaccine, so we are awaiting that conclusion. It’s a possibility,” she said.
Thus, the expansion of vaccine delivery to the Ministry of Health is on Fiocruz’s radar if the signal from Europe is positive. Today the commitment is 120 million doses in the first half delivered to the folder. Krieger says the foundation has the capacity to deliver 300 million doses over 2022.
This would mean doubling production, since throughout 2021, 153.2 million doses were sent to the federal government.
Reference: CNN Brasil
