The Embassy of Ukraine in the Federative Republic of Brazil has sent inquiries regarding the prospects of exporting the vaccine against COVID-19 to Brazilian government institutions that are partners of the manufacturers, as well as sent detailed information on foreign manufacturers testing the vaccine in Brazil to Ukraine.

This was reported by the expert organization StateWatch with reference to the letter of the Ambassador of Ukraine in the Federative Republic of Brazil to the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.

The Embassy also warns the government of Ukraine that Brazil will primarily meet the needs of the internal market, which is more than 210 million people, and emphasizes that Brazil is not producing vaccines but only tests them and buys mixtures for further production in the country.

As of the end of September 2020, 4 coronavirus vaccines were in the third stage of testing in Brazil and were considered the most promising:

1. ChAdOx1 nCoV-19, developed by the University of Oxford and the British company “AstraZeneca”. The State Institute of Immunobiological Technologies “Bio-manguinhos” (Rio de Janeiro) is the partner on the Brazilian side. Tests in Brazil began in late June 2020. The agreement provided for the supply of mixtures to produce 100.4 million vaccine doses and the receipt of its production technology by Brazil. The vaccine should be ready for distribution in the first quarter of 2021. The price per dose is estimated at 3-4 US dollars.
2. Coronavac, developed by the Chinese company “Sinovac Biotech”. On the Brazilian side, the partner is the Butantan State Institute (São Paulo). Tests in Brazil began in late July 2020. By the end of the year, the Institute is to receive 46 million doses of vaccine, by March 2021 – another 15 million doses. The vaccine is expected to be available to the public from January 2021. As of the end of September, the government of São Paulo planned to begin construction of a plant to produce this vaccine, which should be completed in 2022. According to the Governor of São Paulo, João Doria, if other COVID-19 vaccines are available in the country, the Institute will be able to export Coronavac to Latin America.
3. BNT162b2, developed by the American company Pfizer and the German BioTech. Tests in Brazil began in early August 2020. As of the end of September, negotiations were underway with the government to obtain doses of the vaccine in the future, and results on their effectiveness were expected in October 2020.
4. Ad26.COV2.S, developed by the American company “Jassen-Cilag”, which belongs to the Johnson & Johnson group. On August 18, 2020, the National Health Surveillance Agency granted permission for the third phase of testing of this vaccine in Brazil.

The Embassy of Ukraine in the Federative Republic of Brazil has sent inquiries regarding the prospects of exporting the vaccine against COVID-19 to the Brazilian state institutes “Biomagniunhos” and “Butantan”, which are partners of the manufacturers, but has not yet received a response.

However, the letter also states that on August 12, 2020, the Government of the State of Paraná signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the Russian Direct Investment Fund to expand technical cooperation, technology transfer, and research on the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine, and on September 11, the Government of the State of Bahia has signed a cooperation agreement with the Russian Direct Investment Fund to supply 50 million doses of the Russian Sputnik-V vaccine against COVID-19. Clinical trials of this vaccine have been planned since October 2020.