São Paulo initiates contact for the purchase of vaccines from Cuba

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Secretary of International Relations of the City Hall of São Paulo, Marta Suplicy, had contact with representatives of the Cuban consulate and started conversations about a possible purchase of vaccines under development in Cuba. According to the municipality, the goal is to learn about vaccines.

“The SMS [Municipal Health Secretariat] stresses that the most important thing at the moment is to ‘open the range’ of negotiations with laboratories so that the portfolio may be ready to purchase vaccines as soon as possible, with resources that have been set aside by the municipal administration,” the city government said in a statement.

The city reports that it has been holding talks with laboratories, and has shown interest in purchasing vaccines from some of them, such as Janssen, Pfizer and AstraZeneca, which are currently being used in the National Immunization Program (PNI).

The secretariat says that it is working on the required documentation so that, as soon as it is possible to purchase the vaccines, the whole process will be ready. According to the city, contacts with laboratories occurred following authorization by the Chamber of Deputies, the Senate and mayor Bruno Covas.

The Chargé d’Affaires of the Republic of Cuba in Brazil, Ambassador Rolando Gómez González, has confirmed the contact of the São Paulo government. “The City of São Paulo has shown interest in exploring the possibility of acquiring Cuban vaccines to tackle the coronavirus pandemic. We have provided all details of the Cuban institutions – the Finlay Institute and the Cuban Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology – so that they may establish direct contact,” he said.

The diplomat stressed that this was an initial contact since the vaccines have not yet been approved by the Cuban regulatory agency. Rolando Gómez González said that trials with the two vaccines are well advanced in the country and are now in Phase 3, and recalled that the demand for Covid-19 vaccines is currently high.

Once the Cuban vaccines are approved, it will be possible to take some concrete steps towards their purchase, the diplomat added. “This requires ANVISA’s [Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency] authorization for their use, distribution, or production here in Brazil. That is, [at this moment] it is a project, an intention, a very initial phase still,” he said.

Source: Moneytimes