SÃO PAULO, BRAZIL – The Butantan Institute will receive the first five million doses of the Coronavac vaccine against Covid-19, from the Chinese manufacturer Sinovac, in the coming days. The vaccine is in phase 3 trials, the last stage required before its approval, but the government of São Paulo has already secured the importation of 46 million doses by December, in hopes that the vaccine will be effective.
Some nine thousand people have volunteered for Phase 3 trials in Brazil. The results should be known in October.
If positive, the government of São Paulo expects to initiate mass vaccination still in 2020. At the moment, no vaccine has shown conclusive results, and no drug has been proven effective against Covid-19, a disease caused by the novel coronavirus.
In a Facebook post, Governor João Doria pointed out that after this transfer, the Institute will produce its own vaccines in the country, thanks to an agreement that includes technology transfer.
“We will receive the first five million doses of the Coronavac in October. By December, we will have 46 million doses of the vaccine in São Paulo. It is important to note that the agreement with Sinovac includes the transfer of technology to São Paulo, so we will also produce the vaccine at the Butantan Institute. A great achievement for Brazil. Trials continue with volunteer doctors and nurses in six states and soon, if all goes as planned, we will be able to immunize millions of Brazilians. The vaccine symbolizes hope, the certainty that all this will pass”.
In addition to the import, the Butatan Institute will build a plant to produce the Chinese vaccine in 2021. The works should begin still in 2020 and take a year to be completed.
According to the Butantan’s president, Dimas Covas, the plant’s production capacity will amount to 100 million vaccine doses per year and it will serve the entire National Health System (SUS). It is expected to reach maximum capacity by early 2022.
The race for a cure
Never before has so much effort been invested in producing a vaccine in such a short time – some companies pledge that by the end of the year, or early 2021 at the latest, they will be able to deliver it to countries. The Ebola vaccine, considered one of the fastest in terms of production, took five years to be ready and was approved for use in the United States only last year, for instance.
A study shows that the chance of potential candidates for a vaccine to work is six out of 100 and production may take up to 10.7 years. For Covid-19, pharmaceutical companies and companies in general are literally running after a quick solution.
Source: Exame