Members of the Coronavirus External Commission of the House of Representatives were, on this Tuesday (28/07), in Manguinhos campus, to know Fiocruz activities related to the combat of the pandemic, especially with regards to the production process of the vaccine.  Recently, the Foundation and the Ministry of Health announced the signature of an agreement with the biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca for the purchase of batches and technology transfer for the Covid-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University. In addition to know the premises of Bio-Manguinhos (Immunobiological Technology Institute), where the doses will be produced, the agenda also included a technical visit to the Covid-19 Diagnostic Support Unit. 

"The process of developing a vaccine is usually long and must be oriented by precepts of effectiveness, safety and ethics in research. We have seen an unprecedented global effort in speeding up this process. As a strategic institution of the Brazilian State, Fiocruz could not be left out from this mobilization. The Foundation has 120 years of history and actuation in Public Health and we seek to be part of the response to the humanitarian crisis we are experiencing since the beginning of the pandemic", affirmed the president of Fiocruz, Nísia Trindade. 

Together with the leadership of the president of the Commission, Dr. Luizinho Teixeira (PP-RJ), the following federal congressmen also attended to the meeting: Carmen Zanotto (Cidadania-SC), Jandira Feghali (PCdoB-RJ), Chico D’Angelo (PDT-RJ), Alexandre Padilha (PT-SP), Carla Dickson (Pros-RN), Christiano Aureo (PP-RJ), Soraya Manato (PSL-ES), Mariana Carvalho (PSDB-RO), Hiran Gonçalves (PP-RR), Pedro Westphalen (PP-RS), General Peternelli (PSL-SP), Antônio Brito (PSD-BA), Rodrigo Coelho (PSB-SC),  Alexandre Serfiotis (PSD-RJ) e Alessandro Molon (PSB-RJ). The delegation also counted on the participation of Patricia Ferraz (PODE-AP), substitute for the congressman Vinicius Gurgel (PL-AP), counsellor Felipe Michel (Progressistas-RJ), and advisors Daniela Sholl, Thiago Medeiros e Monique Monteiro.

At the beginning of the visit, Fiocruz's president presented the actions the Foundation has been performing combined with the Ministry of Health. Among the highlights, surveillance actions, education, research, technological innovation, production of vaccines and medicines; direct attention to patients contaminated by the disease in the Hospital Center for the Covid-19 Pandemic - Evandro Chagas National Institute of Infectious Diseases (INI/Fiocruz), which was constructed in a emergency regime at the campus and which will remain as a legacy for SUS (Unified Health System) after the end of the pandemic; the role of the Foundation in the production of tests and in the expansion of the national testing capacity; and the work involved in the prospection and manufacturing of, specifically, the vaccine against the disease.