Brazil Invested R$6 Billion in Covid-19 Vaccines, Says Ministry of Health

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Ministry of Health announced yesterday that it has already spent R$6 (US$1.1) billion to secure the immunization of the Brazilian population against Covid-19 since June 2020. To date, Brazil has authorized the emergency use of two vaccines against the disease: the CoronaVac and the Oxford/AstraZeneca.

According to the announcement, Brazil is also negotiating with Pfizer, Janssen, Precisa/Bharat Biotech and União Química/Gamaleya; the latter two now hinge on the release of contract drafts, costs and delivery schedules for technical review.

The payment and availability of immunizers from all laboratories are conditional upon approval by ANVISA, the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency, for emergency and temporary use as well as definitive registration.

The Ministry of Health has negotiated with the Butantan Foundation the purchase of 100 million doses of the vaccine, at a unit cost of R$58.20 per dose. The initial 46 million doses should be delivered by April 30th. However, with the portfolio’s initiative to advance the purchase option and the contracting of the remaining 54 million, it was agreed with the institution that the final deadline for the first batch will be brought forward.

Another 42.5 million doses have been secured with the Brazilian accession, in September, to the Covax Facitlity group, coordinated by the World Health Organization.

To join this pool of vaccine buyers, R$830 million were paid. According to the Ministry, this amount opens the way for the country to immediately engage in negotiations with AstraZeneca, one of the accredited laboratories, and to receive part of the purchased vaccine between February and July this year.

The total cost of the doses to be received by mid-year will be settled during negotiations. The portfolio expects 2.5 million doses of the AstraZeneca-Oxford vaccine to be delivered by March.

Funding

With respect to funding the production of vaccines against Covid-19, the Federal Government formalized a technological order (ETEC) through Fiocruz (Oswaldo Cruz Foundation) for the development of the AZD1222/ChAdOx1 vaccine in Brazil. This vaccine was developed by Oxford University in partnership with AstraZeneca. A total of R$2 billion was invested in this process.

Under the agreement, signed between Fiocruz and AstraZeneca, the development, delivery of the imported active pharmaceutical ingredient (API), with scaling of 100.4 million doses of the vaccine and full technology transfer along with the industrial-scale production process of the API, which will enable domestic production of an additional 110 million doses of the vaccine in the second half of 2021.

The Foundation was responsible for the delivery of another two million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine produced by India’s Serum Institute.