Brazil to produce 100, million  doses of Oxford Covid-19 vaccine

Brazil announced on Saturday, June 27  an agreement to produce up to 100 million doses of the coronavirus vaccine developed by the  British University of Oxford, and which Brazil is helping to test.

The vaccine, in which Oxford works alongside the pharmaceutical group AstraZeneca, is among the most promising of the dozens that researchers around the world are experimenting with.

Under the $ 127 million deal, the Brazilian government's public health institute, the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), will acquire the technology and supplies to produce the vaccine, which is being tested in Britain and South Africa, as well as in Brazil.

The executive secretary of the Ministry of Health, Elcio Franco, said that the agreement would give Brazil an advantage if the vaccine is effective and safe.

"The transfer of this technology will give us production autonomy," he said at a press conference.

"Brazil is trying to avoid situations like those that occurred at the beginning of the pandemic when high demand prevented us from accessing supplies and medicines. And we are evading the exorbitant profit margins applied during the pandemic," he added.

The agreement gives Brazil the right to produce an initial quantity of 30.4 million doses in December and January, while the vaccine is still being tested.

The $ 127 million stipulated in the agreement includes $30 million for the rights to the vaccine technology and the production process, authorities said.

If the vaccine passes clinical tests, Brazil will have the right to produce an additional 70 million doses, at an estimated cost of $2.30 each.

"Even if clinical trials are unsuccessful, our (vaccine production) technology will advance," said health ministry official Arnaldo Correia de Medeiros.

This week, Brazilian researchers began administering the vaccine, known as ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, to volunteers.

Brazil was selected because it is one of the countries where the virus is spreading the fastest.  The country’s president has likened it to the flu and two health ministers have resigned

The South American giant has the second highest number of cases and deaths worldwide after the United States, with more than 1.2 million people infected and 55,000 deaths, according to the latest official data.

Experts say that conducting a relatively low number of screening tests means that the actual numbers in this country of 212 million people are likely to be much higher.