Brazil still imports 90% of raw materials for vaccines, medicines
A technical note from nonprofit Oxfam Brasil casts light on Brazil’s lack of self-sufficiency in vaccine production. According to the document, entitled Capacidade de Produção de Vacinas no Brasil (“Vaccine Production Capacity in Brazil”), published Wednesday (Oct. 25), Brazil imports 90 percent of the raw materials used to make vaccines and medicines and 50 percent to manufacture medical equipment.The note points out, however, that Brazil has leading institutions in vaccine production, such as Fiocruz’s Bio-Manguinhos Institute and the Butantan Institute, the world’s tenth largest vaccine maker.“However, the country is far from being self-sufficient. While China has more than a thousand factories producing IFA24 [the raw material for vaccines], in Brazil this number comes near 15,” th...