Fiocruz and AstraZeneca have made a new commitment to purchase an additional Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API) sufficient to produce an additional 20 million doses of Covid-19 vaccine. The pharmaceutical company and Fiocruz had already signed a contract this month to purchase additional API for the production of about 50 million doses, which will be part of the second half deliveries together with the national production. With the new commitment, Fiocruz will then be able to produce 70 million additional doses during the second half of the year, in addition to the doses that will be produced with the API produced in Brazil.

Another achievement for Brazil is the delivery schedule for the input. According to the signed commitment, new shipments of API for the production of 20 million doses are expected to be sent during the August and September months, which would ensure continuous production in the second half of the year, thus eliminating the interruption risk due to raw material lack. The remaining batches, needed to produce the remaining 50 million doses, will be shipped in the following months, from October to December.

The announcement was made during a meeting held this week between AstraZeneca and the Ministry of Health, with the Fiocruz participation. The AstraZeneca CEO, Pascal Soriot; the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga; the Fiocruz president, Nísia Trindade Lima; and the Institutional Development and Work Management at Fiocruz vice-president, Mario Moreira, were present.

"We know how difficult it has been to obtain additional input, given the vaccine and input shortages international scenario. The additional API acquisition for the production of another 70 million doses is the result of the institutional effort and commitment, as well as the partnership that AstraZeneca has had with us since the beginning, understanding the urgency of a continuous and accelerated production in our country", highlights the president of Fiocruz, Nísia Trindade Lima.

During the meeting, as a high quality work result recognition, being developed by the Institute of Technology in Immunibiologics (Bio-Manguinhos/Fiocruz) in the vaccine production, a technical working group was defined to evaluate a Fiocruz collaboration in the global effort to overcome the pandemic.

In total, 65.9 million doses have already been delivered to the NIP, including 4 million ready doses of the Serum Institute vaccine from India. With IFA already available at the Foundation, weekly deliveries are guaranteed until July 23.

Source: Fiocruz News Agency (AFN).