President Jair Bolsonaro approved a law greenlighting the manufacture of Covid-19 vaccines by veterinary facilities, as well as the production of active pharmaceutical ingredients.
The decision requires facilities to comply with all health and biosafety requirements established for human-developed vaccines, and coronavirus immunizers will not be bottled, labeled, packaged, or stored alongside veterinary medicines.
During a peak of Covid-19 cases and medicine shortage, hospitals in Rio de Janeiro were forced to use sedatives, anesthetics, and painkillers provided by a zoonosis control center.
The newly-approved decision seeks to improve the vaccination program in Brazil, which as of today has immunized over 15 percent of the population.