A pandemia da Covid-19 e as interlocuções entre vacinas e propriedade intelectual no Brasil: Belo Horizonte como estudo de caso

Abstract

The SARS-CoV-2 pandemic arrived devastatingly, decimating countless lives and completely transforming people's daily lives. The fear brought by it made the scientific community and pharmaceutical companies join forces to find an effective vaccine to alleviate the presented scenario, using all the knowledge accumulated over the centuries, thanks to the appearance of the first vaccine. Brazil, since the 19th century, with the creation of the first institutions dedicated to vaccines, began to solidify scientific and technical knowledge, enabling the existence of consolidated and active institutions in the vaccine area, Instituto Butantan (Butantan) and Fundação Oswaldo Cruz (Fiocruz), responsible for immunizations delivered to the National Immunization Program (PNI), achieving the eradication of diseases. Thanks to all this accumulated knowledge and thirst for innovation, it was possible to bring two Technology Transfer contracts to Brazil, preceded by the Technological Order, which was decisive for the vaccination of the Brazilian people. In this scenario of chaos and uncertainty, the Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) created mechanisms to speed up processes, maintaining due rigor for evaluations and approvals for vaccines. Brazilian society, as well as people from the city of Belo Horizonte/MG, were immunized with two vaccines from the COVAX Facility, Pfizer and Janssen, and the two vaccines that, for the most part, were produced in the national territory, AstraZeneca and CoronaVac. In this endeavor, the PNI, part of the Unified Health System (SUS), managed the distribution of vaccines very well, initially serving priority groups until the vaccine was made available to all individuals. Still, there was resistance from many to receive the available doses. In this vein, the method used in this master's thesis was to search for articles that discussed the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, the emergence of the first vaccine, and all the accumulation of knowledge since then to combat and even eradicate the present diseases In societies, as well as articles dealing with intellectual property, Technological Ordering, and Technology Transfer. Other research sources were the websites of the Ministry of Health (MS), Anvisa, Fiocruz, Butantan, the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as the OPEN DATASUS database. , always aiming to highlight Brazilian scientific and technical production and the importance of our public bodies in combating the pandemic. Even with the significant performance of Brazilian government agencies, we conclude that there is a need for investment in basic research and training of public health agents so that Brazil is more independent and qualified to fight against possible pandemics without total dependence on technologies engendered in high-income countries, making their population aware and showing the importance and seriousness of science as a whole.