Ministry of Health Prepares National Covid-19 Vaccination Program

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Ministry of Health has begun the development of a national vaccination program against Covid-19 in Brazil. With the recent progress of the Oxford University clinical study on the potential vaccine, in its third phase of human trials – including trials in Brazil -, the portfolio is currently discussing a “large campaign” with state and municipal officials.

Eduardo Macario, the Health Analysis and Disease Monitoring Department director, said on Wednesday, July 29th, that the SUS (National Health System) is preparing to execute a joint action at the national level, both from the technological standpoint and the improvement of the existing system. “A campaign that will indeed provide a solution to the fight against Covid-19. Above all, it will protect the whole Brazilian population,” said the director during a press conference in Brasília.

In June, the government announced an agreement to produce the vaccine developed by Oxford in partnership with biopharmaceutical AstraZeneca in Brazil. The immunizing potential, which is in its third phase of clinical trials, is considered by the W.H.O. (World Health Organization) to be the “most advanced” to date.

“We’re looking at vaccines under development in the world. And it seems that the Oxford vaccine is one of the most promising of all. This Ministry promptly placed a technological order to buy a critically valuable quantity of the vaccine,” said Arnaldo Medeiros, the Health Surveillance Secretary.

The agreement consists of two stages. It begins with an order in which Brazil also takes the risks of research. In other words, it will be paid for through technology regardless of the final clinical trial results. In a second phase, should the vaccine prove effective and safe, the purchase will be extended.

In this initial, risky phase, there will be 30.4 million doses of the vaccine, worth a total of US$127 million, including the technology transfer and production process costs of Fiocruz, estimated at US$30 million. The two lots to be provided to Fiocruz, of 15.2 million doses each, should be delivered in December 2020 and January 2021.

Asked about the public health system’s distribution capacity, the Health Surveillance Secretary stressed that SUS, based on its history of immunization campaigns, is prepared to administer a potential vaccine to even the “most remote parts” of Brazil.

“We are talking about Brazil, about the SUS, we have a capacity and coverage already established by the countless vaccination programs that this country has already developed, introduced, and conducted. Today we held planning meetings in our Secretariat so that, once the vaccine is here, we can distribute it to the most remote locations within the vaccination strategy being implemented in our country,” completed Medeiros.

Source: R7