Intervenção do Ministro Carlos França no Fórum Internacional sobre Cooperação em Vacinas contra a COVID-19 (em inglês)

Remarks by Minister Carlos França at the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation (05/08/2021)[*] 

Thank you, Mr. Wang Yi, Minister of Foreign Affairs of China, for chairing this meeting.

I congratulate the Chinese government for convening the International Forum on COVID-19 Vaccine Cooperation. This important initiative reinforces solidarity among countries in order to enable us to respond more effectively to this pandemic. China has been a major partner of Brazil in the fight against coronavirus.

Since the beginning of the pandemic, Brazil has stood for international cooperation to fight this humanitarian crisis. The equitable access to vaccines and other health technologies, unfortunately, is not yet a reality. Less developed countries are suffering the lack of access to existing vaccines, with dangerous consequences worldwide.

In line with our priorities in health diplomacy, Brazil is committed to equal and affordable access to safe, effective, and quality vaccines. We are engaged in the ACT Accelerator and COVAX Facility, while we also support the COVID-19 Technology Access Pool (C-TAP).

This pandemic has also shown that the promotion of local production and technology transfer mechanisms are essential to strengthen and guarantee sustainable national health systems. Global shortage of vaccines mainly results from limitations in manufacturing capacity and bottlenecks in the global supply chain. Brazil has been working to consolidate an international framework that encourages local production and distribution of vaccines, active pharmaceutical ingredients, and other health products.

We urge all countries to do their best in facilitating technology transfer to developing countries, which is of strategic interest to promote global health. In this regard, let me underline that more than 75% of the 145 million shots of COVID-19 vaccines administered in Brazil were locally produced.

The buildup of international solidarity and cooperation is of utmost importance if we want to ensure access to COVID-19 vaccines for everyone, and Brazil recognizes the role of China in this regard. Brazil intends, as soon as possible, to support other countries, through the donation and export of vaccines, initially in South America, but also in Africa and other regions.

Brazil has also observed, with great concern, discriminatory measures against the circulation of people based on the acceptance of certain vaccine brands. These policies break the solidarity chain that the international community is aiming to build and should be avoided.

We must work together on common solutions to the greatest challenge of our time. No one is safe until everyone is safe. Let us act accordingly. Thank you.