Large-scale production of Oxford vaccine kicks off in Brazil

Until July, Fiocruz should use its Rio de Janeiro laboratories to produce vaccines with the active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) of biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, with which it agreed to produce in Brazil a vaccine against the novel coronavirus developed by Oxford University. In the second half-year, vaccines will be produced with a 100 percent Brazilian API.
«The first line operational today is producing approximately 300 thousand doses a day. Still this week, should production transpire as expected, a second production line should become operational to boost the productive capacity. Two lines are expected to be operational by the end of March, with a production of about a million doses a day,» Fiocruz reported in a note published on its website.
During the Monday meeting with the health minister, Fiocruz representatives restated the estimate of delivering 3.8 million doses in March for distribution in Brazil’s national immunization plan.
The remaining documents were also sent to Brazil’s national sanitary regulator Anvisa for the definitive registration of the vaccine. The registration is likely to be granted this week.