Up to August 13th, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz) had provided the National Immunization Program (PNI) with 84.5 million doses. Fiocruz is the country’s main supplier of Covid-19 vaccines. The number of vaccines delivered, the maintenance of permanent deliveries (22 weeks of uninterrupted deliveries), and the scheduled arrival of batches of Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) in the upcoming months all point to the maintenance of regular deliveries and vaccine availability. 

Fiocruz confirms it received three new batches of API in August and the sending of three monthly batches of API, between September and November. The Foundation will maintain the regularity of monthly deliveries in the upcoming months, with an average of about 18 million doses per month until the end of the year.

The institution emphasizes the importance of speeding up vaccination so the country can feel the effects and benefits of this collective protection. On the subject of heterologous vaccination or vaccine interchangeability (two doses of different vaccines), Fiocruz highlights the benefits of maintaining the full vaccination scheme with two doses of the Fiocruz/AstraZeneca vaccine:

1. Although there are potentially significant data on the use of heterologous vaccination schemes, there is not enough evidence on the duration of the immune response generated by two different vaccines;

2. The duration and magnitude of the post-vaccination immune response is being followed with much concern considering the global moment of the pandemic regarding variations of concern and increases in numbers and severeness of cases. In the case of the Fiocruz/AstraZeneca vaccine, studies point to a high effectiveness of the vaccine in real work data, including Brazil, as well as to a more persistent immune response in people who have taken the two doses of the Fiocruz/AstraZeneca vaccine than in what has been reported in studies with other vaccines; 

3. A study led by Oxford University and published in June this year in The Lancet shows there is no loss of efficacy when the interval between the first and the second dose is increased if necessary. According to the research, the first dose can maintain an efficacy of 80% for up to 10 months before the second dose, and this interval may confer an even more robust immune response after the full vaccination scheme using Oxford/AstraZeneca.

Source: Fiocruz News Agency (AFN, acronym in portuguese).