Fiocruz receives visits from the US to discuss cooperation in health

Fiocruz received, last Wednesday (3/22), the visit of the Under Secretary for Economic Growth, Energy and Environment of the United States, José W. Fernandez, and his delegation, which also had the consul in Rio de Janeiro, Jacqueline Ward. Representatives of the US government and Fiocruz met and discussed topics such as bilateral cooperation in health and environment in the region, the challenges and lessons learned in the preparation for pandemics, the needs of production chains of inputs, and the development of vaccines with possible treatments and prevention using the mRNA platform.

Representatives of the US government and Fiocruz met and discussed topics such as bilateral cooperation in health and the environment in the region (photo: Peter Ilicciev)

The group was received at the Mourisco Castle by the Vice President of Production and Innovation in Health at Fiocruz, Marco Krieger. Thereafter, the American and the Foundation delegations met at the Official Residence, where they discussed the main agenda of the meeting and committed to the next conversation to follow up on the discussions.

“We had a fascinating discussion with Fiocruz colleagues about how we can work together to prepare for the next pandemics and how we can use the learnings obtained here at Fiocruz to improve and strengthen the health frameworks of the Americas”, stated the Under Secretary José W. Fernandez. “Fiocruz is an institution of excellence and the US is committed to working in a partnership for the promotion of health and development”.

Fernandez was interested in the experience and challenges faced by Fiocruz with regard to the production chain of inputs, such as vaccines, directing the discussions to the possibilities and need for cooperation in the region in the face of new pandemics, so that there are no inequalities in the production, distribution, and access to inputs.

The Undersecretary for Economic Growth, Energy, and Environment of the United States, José W.Fernandez, was received by the Vice President of Production and Innovation in Health at Fiocruz, Marco Krieger (photo: Peter Ilicciev)

“We cannot see countries competing for a vaccine, we need to be better and we owe that to our families and those we lost (in the COVID-19 pandemic)”, he declared. “We had failures in the supply chains and we need to fix that. And what became clear is that Brazil has to be part of this solution, not only for Brazil, but for the entire region”.

Director of the Immunobiological Technology Institute (Biomanguinhos/Fiocruz), Mauricio Zuma highlighted that it is a challenge to strengthen production areas not only in Brazil, but in the region, emphasizing that it is not easy to quickly start vaccine production. “It is not just a matter of building facilities, it takes a complex ecosystem of education, science, and technology to establish a stable market for vaccines, as well as to increase our portfolio and be part of this network to face new pandemics”, he pointed out.

Krieger highlighted Fiocruz's experience during the pandemic and the challenges of ensuring production in a period like this. He also highlighted the importance of learning how to use vaccine technology for COVID-19 for other diseases, noting that this can be done at the Foundation, which already has this technology. He considered the Under Secretary's visit emblematic and expressed the Foundation's interest in working to generate knowledge and develop inputs for the Brazilian public health system.

“We were very excited when we received the agenda for today's meeting. We think it is time to materialize these intentions of cooperation in a stronger object between Fiocruz and the American government, to leverage the actions carried out in Brazil”, said Krieger, calling attention to the interactions that already exist between American institutions to aid the scientific and educational development in obtaining new products for the Unified Health System (SUS).

Meeting with the US Department of Health and the CDC

Last Thursday morning (3/23), there was also a presentation meeting of the new attache at the Department of Health and Human Services at the US embassy in Brasília, Kristin Kelling. Her delegation also had the Regional Director of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), Juliette Morgan, and HHS Public Health Analyst, Dailani Carrijo.

A general agreement with the CDC was on the agenda to support projects and bring organizations closer together (photo: Peter Ilicciev)

They met at the Center for International Relations in Health (Cris/Fiocruz) with representatives of the international areas of the Foundation's units. On the agenda, a general agreement with the CDC to support projects and bring organizations closer together. The group also spoke of partnerships with the networks coordinated by Fiocruz, such as the network of national health institutes in Latin America, which the CDC could work on in the region.