Sinovac begins construction of its vaccine plant in Chile

Santiago — This Thursday, the Chinese company Sinovac Biotech officially started the Construction of your vaccine packaging and finishing plant in the commune of Quilicura, north of the Metropolitan Region of Chile.

This is the first Sinovac plant in Latin America, which contemplates an investment of US$ 100 million dollars and that it will have the capacity to produce up to 50 million doses per year to combat diseases such as Covid-19, influenza, hepatitis A and others later, which can be distributed more easily, both in Chile and in the rest of the region. , he explained in a statement.

The construction will be carried out on a 22,000 square meter plot of land, where there is already a building that will be remodeled and adapted to house this 11,000 m² built complex, which will have a sterile filling line, a finishing and packaging section, quality control and conditioned warehouses to store the vaccines between 2º to 8º C of temperature. “All this, following the regulatory requirements of Chile and the worldthus guaranteeing the highest standards of good manufacturing practices,” said the Chinese pharmaceutical company.

The Chinese company reported that the “semi-finished” product with the inactivated virus will arrive from its plant in Tianfu, China, which was audited by the World Health Organization. The idea is that, from the Arturo Merino Benítez airport in Santiago, these products are transferred to the plant in Quilicura for the final stage of the manufacturing process, where they will be sterilely packaged, packed, and their quality certified to later be distributed in the country. It is expected that the plant is operational by the first half of 2023.

Sinovac has been a major provider of vaccines against Sars-CoV-2 in Chile during the pandemic, supplying the majority of the doses that have been placed in its immunization program. Its vaccine, CoronaVac, was authorized for emergency use in the country on January 20, 2021.

RETURN TO PRODUCING VACCINES IN CHILEAN TERRITORY

“Sinovac Biotech Chile is installed in our country with three main objectives: to contribute to the public health of Chile and other countries in the region, making available vaccines to combat relevant diseases; promote work academic public-private to encourage and promote local R&D; and train professionals to perform in the manufacture of vaccines with the highest global quality standards (GMP)”, explained Dr. Virginia Garretón, Vice President of Corporate Affairs of Sinovac Biotech Chile.

The Minister of Science, Technology and Innovation, Flavio Salazar, said that this project introduces Chile once again in the vaccine production process. The country had stopped producing vaccines in 2005.

“We hope that Chile will once again be a leading actor in the field of vaccines in the southern cone”, said Heriberto García, deputy director of the Institute of Public Health (ISP). He added that the institution he chairs is working on the analysis and approval of each “detail of the design of these facilities, whose characteristics must be adjusted to the conditions of the place, according to the requirements that we demand as a regulator.”

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