Global EditionASIA 中文双语Français
World
Home / World / Americas

Brazil to start producing COVID-19 vaccine in first half of 2021

Xinhua | Updated: 2021-02-23 10:16
Share
Share - WeChat
A municipal health worker prepares a dose of the AstraZeneca/Oxford vaccine at the the Sustainable Development Reserve of Tupe in the Negro river banks in Manaus, Brazil, Feb 9, 2021. [Photo/Agencies]

RIO DE JANEIRO - Brazil will begin to produce a COVID-19 vaccine in the first half of 2021, a state-run biological sciences institution said Monday.

With a technology transfer agreement with British pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, Oswaldo Cruz Foundation based in Rio de Janeiro will be able to start making the vaccine in Brazil in April, said Marco Aurelio Krieger, the vice president of production and innovation in health with the foundation, in an interview with the UOL internet portal.

"That has always been our goal. By incorporating production technology to the maximum, we hope to have 100 percent national production in the first half (of this year). We are very confident," Krieger said.

He stressed the importance to Brazil of producing its own COVID-19 vaccine to reduce dependence on other manufacturers amid a high global demand for vaccines.

"If today we wanted to buy more vaccines, we would not be able to ... It is time to think about the strategic production of some products, because we have seen global competition throughout the pandemic," he said.

Brazil is set to receive more than 2 million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine on Tuesday, according to Krieger.

The AstraZeneca vaccine and the CoronaVac vaccine developed by Chinese pharma company Sinovac are the two vaccines being applied in the country.

"I am convinced that in April, May or June, we will be very close to having distributed 100 million doses," he added.

Most Viewed in 24 Hours
Top
BACK TO THE TOP
English
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US