Remarks by Minister Carlos França at the Global Health Summit - May 21st, 2021

Ladies and gentlemen,

It is an honour to represent the President of Brazil, Jair Bolsonaro, in the Global Health Summit. President Jair Bolsonaro is since yesterday on a field trip to the Northern region of Brazil and even though he could not be present due to scheduling reasons, President Bolsonaro assigned me to convey his message - in close coordination with the Ministry of Health - and to reiterate the importance of Health Diplomacy for Brazil.

I congratulate the Italian G20 presidency and the European Union for the initiative of this high-level meeting. The objectives of overcoming the Covid-19 pandemic and building an international system that is more resilient to future pandemics require greater international cooperation and the strengthening of national health systems.

The equitable access to vaccines, tests and treatments - which we, G20 members, made a commitment to ensure to everyone, leaving no one behind - unfortunately it is not yet a reality. While some wealthier countries have plenty of vaccines and other resources to protect their populations, less developed countries are suffering the consequences of overwhelming pressure on healthcare and the lack of access to existing vaccines, supplies, tests and treatments.

In order to accelerate the vaccination process and the fight against coronavirus worldwide, Brazil defends the adoption of concrete measures to strengthen the international production of vaccines, medicines and equipment in a greater number of developing countries, as well as the facilitation of health agreements, licensing, and transfer of technology. International cooperation and the participation of pharmaceutical companies will be essential to accomplish these goals.

Brazil is negotiating technology transfer contracts with major pharmaceutical companies to manufacture vaccines in our public laboratories. While we recognize the flexibilities of the WTO TRIPS Agreement, we are ready to enter into new partnerships with companies interested in producing in Brazil, benefiting from our health industrial facilities, skilled workforce and experience in the development, production and distribution of vaccines.

We are also investing in expanding our production capacity with the construction of the Santa Cruz complex in Rio de Janeiro, which will be the largest biopharmaceutical centre in Latin America; we are planning as well the future installation, in Brazil, of a laboratory with the highest level of biosafety available, NB-4.

Ladies and gentlemen,

Universal Health Coverage and a balanced approach to the relationship between human health, animal health and the environment will be paramount to overcoming the pandemic.

In Brazil, our Constitution guarantees universal access to healthcare. Our Unified Health System – or SUS, as we call it here in Brazil –  is one of the largest free and universal public health systems in the world.

Right now, Brazil still needs assistance. I would like to thank you publicly, once more, for the support we have received from friendly countries, especially donations of medicines for critical care patients. As far as vaccines are concerned, so far we have distributed almost 90 million doses and administered over 55 million doses. With more vaccines in hand, we could considerably speed up this process, as we have the capacity to vaccinate up to 2.4 million people a day.

Brazil commends the efforts carried out by WHO during the pandemic not only to speed up development and scale-up production of the Covid-19 vaccines, therapeutics and diagnostics but also to make them accessible to everyone through mechanisms such as ACT-A and COVAX. Through the COVAX Facility the government of President Jair Bolsonaro contracted 42.5 million vaccines doses for the Brazilian population. We are now studying the possibility of contributing to the other pillars of ACT-A, as we understand the suffering caused by the pandemic will only be alleviated when all countries have adequate tools to fight it.

The government of President Jair Bolsonaro is proud of the Brazilian legacy of international cooperation. Brazil intends to help other countries in their fight against Covid-19 as soon as possible – initially in South America, but also in Africa and other regions – through the donation of vaccines, diagnostic tests and treatments. By means of our Health Diplomacy, we are committed to doing our part to overcome the pandemic not only in Brazil, but also around the world.

Thank you very much.