Pan-American Health Body To Make COVID-19 Vaccines In Brazil, Argentina - Release

WASHINGTON (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 22nd September, 2021) Two centers in Brazil and Argentina will become regional hubs to develop and manufacture mRNA-based vaccines to combat the spread of COVID-19 and other infectious diseases across Latin America, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO) said.

"PAHO has announced the selection of two centers in Argentina and Brazil as regional hubs for the development and production of mRNA-based vaccines in Latin America in a bid to tackle COVID-19 and future infectious-disease challenges," the organization said in a press release on Tuesday.

The Bio-Manguinhos Institute of Technology on Immunobiologicals (BMITI) at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FIOCRUZ) was selected as the center in Brazil and Sinergium Biotech, a private sector biopharmaceutical company, was chosen as the center in Argentina, the release said.

"(BMITI) has a long tradition in vaccine manufacturing and has made promising advances in the development of an innovative mRNA vaccine against COVID-19" while "Sinergium will partner with pharmaceutical mAbxience ...to develop and manufacture active vaccine ingredients," the release added.

World Health Organization Chief Scientist Soumya Swaminathan and PAHO Assistant Director Jarbas Barbosa announced the initiative during PAHO's 59th Directing Council on the subject of technology transfer for the production of mRNA vaccines in the Americas, according to the release.