President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva stated, this Monday (9), that there will be no shortage of money for health research during his government. Furthermore, when defending multilateralism at an event at the Butantan Institute, Lula spoke about the partnership with China for the production of vaccines in Brazil and that he is not choosing the Asian country over the United States.
“We are choosing what is best for our country. And if China agrees to partner with us in vaccine production and will produce the quantity that we are still unable to produce, why not make an agreement with China?”, said Lula.
In São Paulo, the event marked the beginning of dengue vaccination for primary care health professionals across the country. The 100% national vaccine was developed by Butantan, after more than 15 years of research funded by the São Paulo and federal governments.
“As long as I have the opportunity to help, there will be no shortage of money for research, neither in Butantã nor in any other research institute in that country,” he stated.
The forecast is to protect 1.2 million workers who work on the front line of the Unified Health System (SUS) against dengue. The expansion of vaccination to other audiences, from 15 to 59 years old, starting with the oldest, is scheduled for the second half of this year as Butantan expands its production capacity.
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The Ministry of Health has been acquiring all available quantity and the expectation is that, based on a strategic partnership between Brazil and China, with the transfer of technology to WuXi Vaccines, production could increase by 30 times.
Lula also spoke about the fake news who try to discredit the importance of vaccination and stated that it is necessary to convince society to return to taking vaccines, “as it was in the past”.
“We have an obligation not to be discouraged, to campaign, to speak at school, teachers to speak, pastors and priests to speak [nas igrejas]politicians speak, until we convince people that taking a vaccine means avoiding the possibility that, at some point, nature [os vírus e bactérias] can disrupt a person’s life,” he said.
Investments
In addition to the immunization strategy, the federal government announced R$1.5 billion in investments in the São Paulo institute, to expand infrastructure and production capacity for vaccines and biological inputs.
The resources will be allocated to the production and development of vaccines using messenger RNA (mRNA) technology; manufacturing of the Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (IFA) for the DTPa vaccine, which protects against diphtheria, tetanus and pertussis; manufacturing of the vaccine against Human Papillomavirus (HPV); and expansion of serum production.
The Butantan Institute is the largest producer of vaccines and serums in Latin America and the main producer of immunobiologicals in Brazil, a historical and strategic partner of the Ministry of Health in the federal immunization policy.
