CoronaVac: Supplies Should Come Within Ten Days, Says Butantan Institute Director

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – According to the São Paulo government, 15,000 healthcare professionals have already been vaccinated with the CoronaVac and the state has been immunizing a healthcare professional every three minutes.

On Wednesday, January 20th, Butantan Institute director Dimas Covas said that the raw material for Butantan to continue the production of the CoronaVac vaccine has been ready since the beginning of January. The São Paulo government expects to receive the first shipment by the end of this month – that is, in up to ten days.

The raw material mentioned by Covas is called Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (API), the ingredient that makes the vaccine work. In order for Butantan to continue producing the doses, this raw material needs to be sent by Sinovac, from China to Brazil.

“There are 5,400 liters of raw material, which will result in five million doses. We expect it to arrive by the end of the month”, said Covas in a press conference held at the Bandeirantes Palace, the São Paulo government seat. “The second shipment, of 5,600 liters, is expected to arrive by February 10th”.

The director also explained that the whole process of Butantan with the vaccines – receiving the raw materials, filling the doses and completing the product – takes around 20 days.

Butantan waits for second emergency use application

Last Monday, January 18th, São Paulo governor João Doria stated that the Butantan Institute has applied for a second emergency use of 4.8 million doses of the CoronaVac to the National Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA).

This application differs from the authorization granted by ANVISA last Sunday, January 17th, when the agency approved the emergency use of six million doses of the CoronaVac and the Oxford/AstraZeneca’s vaccine in Brazil.

The second request for emergency use refers to the doses to be produced at the Butantan Institute, while the first request considered only the first doses, which were imported from China.

According to Covas, 54 million doses could be supplied in total, provided there is a prior indication from the Ministry of Health. The previous contract between the Butantan and Sinovac comprised a total of 46 million doses.

According to Covas, the delay delivering the raw materials is due to “a bureaucratic clearance involving the Chinese Ministry of Health, the Chinese health agency and the Asian country’s customs”.

The justification for the late delivery of raw materials is similar to Chamber of Deputies president Rodrigo Maia’s explanation (DEM-RJ), also on Wednesday.

Maia reported that the obstacles hindering the shipment of raw materials to Brazil do not involve political issues. Maia’s statement came after a meeting with China’s ambassador in Brazil, Yang Wanming. According to Maia, the meeting was “positive”.

“He said that, together with the Chinese government, he is working to expedite the export of raw materials and quickly solve the technical procedures issue. I clearly felt that political conflicts are not behind this delay, that the issue is indeed technical,” said Maia.

In a similar statement to Maia, Doria praised the partnership between São Paulo and China and said he was optimistic about the delivery of raw materials. The governor also stressed that the state’s diplomatic relationship with the Asian country has always been good, but that it has been strengthened in recent years, after Doria’s administration set up a representative office in Shanghai to deepen ties between São Paulo’s people and the Chinese.

Another initiative that brought China closer to São Paulo, according to Doria, was the technology transfer and vaccine purchase agreement signed between Sinovac and Butantan. “We have been dialoguing with the Chinese Embassy, with the Chinese Consulate and with the Chinese government, with which we maintain excellent relations and always have, precisely in order to secure the release of the new raw materials which the Butantan Institute has ordered from the Chinese Sinovac laboratory and which are ready in Beijing to be shipped to São Paulo,” said Doria during a press conference in São José dos Campos.

“And we have high expectations. We hope that over the next 48 hours we will hear that the Chinese government is in favor of the release of raw materials for the Butantan vaccine. And I hope they will do likewise for the Fiocruz vaccine”, he added.

Some 15,000 have been immunized in the state

Also during the press conference, Doria updated the figures related to vaccination in the state of São Paulo, which began last Sunday with nurse Mônica Calazans at the Emílio Ribas hospital, in the state capital. According to the governor, 15,000 healthcare professionals in São Paulo have already been administered the CoronaVac and the state has been immunizing one healthcare professional every three minutes, on average.

To quantify the number of people vaccinated, the State Communication Secretariat on Tuesday, January 19th, launched the ‘Vacinômetro’ digital tool. Developed in partnership with the Data Processing Company of the State of São Paulo (PRODESP), it allows anyone to monitor the number of vaccinated people in the state in real time.

The ‘Vacinômetro’ is available on the São Paulo Government’s website, and by 3:30 PM on Wednesday, it showed 18,834 people vaccinated in the state.

“Given the limited quantity of doses, the state prioritized healthcare professionals, particularly doctors and nurses who work in intensive care units,” said State Health Secretary Jean Gorinchteyn. The government stated that the vaccination of quilombolas communities and indigenous people, the next priority group to receive the doses, will begin on Saturday, January 23rd, in Vale do Ribeira (southern São Paulo state).

According to the state administration, 125,000 vaccines will reach 75 destinations in the state by Thursday, January 21st. The trucks, escorted by the State Police, will leave the Logistics Distribution Center (CDL), located in São Paulo. The new points include cities in the regions of Sorocaba, Vale do Ribeira, Araraquara, São José do Rio Preto, Barretos, Vale do Paraíba and Litoral Norte, Bauru, Ribeirão Preto and Franca. On Tuesday, January 19th, batches were sent to the region of Marília.