Brazil will be independent in vaccine production in 2022, says minister

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Starting in 2022, Brazil will be independent in the production of vaccines for Covid-19 and will be prepared for future pandemics, said Minister of Science, Technology and Innovations Marcos Pontes.

“If the planet doesn’t want to sell vaccine to Brazil, Brazil will sell vaccine to the planet,” the minister said during an interview on the program A Voz do Brasil that will air this Friday night (31).

Pontes said that the ministry has invested in 15 types of vaccine technologies. “[This structure] will serve for other pandemics that we will have, without a doubt. It will serve for neglected diseases, like dengue, zika and chikungunya, and in addition we have the expansion of the research infrastructure for viruses and emerging viruses.”

He calls it a shield program for Brazil to be much more prepared for the next pandemics. “We can’t go through a pandemic and not learn from it,” he says.

The minister also mentioned some of the portfolio’s projects for 2022, such as the start of construction of a level 4 biosafety laboratory, which will be the first in Latin America; the start of operations of the National Institute of the Sea; the construction of Cryosphere 2 in Antarctica; the increase in the number of remote laboratories in the Amazon, expected to reach 50 stations; the development of the first niobium and graphene battery and the increase in biofuel technologies.

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