(Pic: Peter Ilicciev)At the end of the 1st Extraordinary Public Meeting of the Collegiate Board (1ª Reunião Extraordinária Pública da Diretoria Colegiada), held on Sunday (17/1) morning, the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) authorized the emergency use of two vaccines against Covid-19: Oxford-Astrazeneca produced by Fiocruz, and Coronavac, produced by the Butantan Institute. A historic day for Anvisa and also for Brazil, being the very cornerstone of vaccination against coronavirus in the country.

The emergency request submitted by Fiocruz refers to the 2 million ready-made vaccines that will be imported from the Serum Institute, one of the centers qualified by AstraZeneca for the production of the vaccine in India. The logistics and performance of the transportation of these vaccines with the Indian Government is being conducted by the Brazilian Federal Government, through the Ministry of Health (MS), Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MRE) and the Office of the President's Chief of Staff. Fiocruz has been in permanent contact with the Federal Government agencies to update information. 

“Fiocruz and its entire technical staff have been tirelessly dedicated to making vaccines available to the Brazilian Universal Care System (SUS) and the Brazilian population. The authorization for emergency use granted today reflects the gravity of the work conducted by the institution. Fiocruz has carried out all possible actions in its jurisdiction, so that these vaccines reach their destination as soon as possible,” said the president of the Foundation, Nísia Trindade Lima.

For the head of the Institute of Technology in Immunobiologicals (Bio-Manguinhos/Fiocruz), Maurício Zuma, the process of submitting the application for emergency use was hard work, involving a huge range of information and a lot of dedication. “The approval by Anvisa proves that we have a safe and effective vaccine to make available to the population; we are not measuring efforts to make this happen as soon as possible,” Zuma says.

Fiocruz, with the support of the Ministry of Health, has been in permanent contact with AstraZeneca for the release and export of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (Ingrediente Farmacêutico Ativo, IFA) from China, which has specific protocols for export of cargo, and awaits further information in order to confirm the arrival date of the first inputs needed for producing the vaccine in Brazil.