HEALTH DIPLOMACY IN TIMES OF PANDEMIC: POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC NEGOTIATIONS AROUND THE CORONAVAC VACCINE IN BRAZIL

• Grant number: 23/14015-1
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: March 01, 2024
• End date: December 31, 2024
• Field of knowledge: Humanities - Geography - Human Geography
• Principal Investigator: Ricardo Mendes Antas Jr
• Grantee: Caroline Corrêa Fernandes
• Host Institution: Faculdade de Filosofia, Letras e Ciências Humanas (FFLCH). Universidade de São Paulo (USP). São Paulo , SP, Brazil

Abstract

During the Covid-19 pandemic, there was a race to produce and purchase vaccines thatcould stop or even eliminate the pandemic. In the Brazilian case, the first vaccineapplied in the national territory was CoronaVac in January 2021. This vaccine is theresult of political and economic negotiations between the Butantan Institute and theChinese company Sinovac Biotech. These negotiations were permeated by diplomaticrelations between the two countries and national agents from each of them.Furthermore, the agreement signed between Butantan and Sinovac provided for thetransfer of vaccine technology, directly affecting the Brazilian health industrialcomplex. In view of this, this research proposes to analyze the diplomatic relations thatguaranteed the agreements for the acquisition of the CoronaVac vaccine and technologytransfer between Butantan and the company SINOVAC and the consequences of this inthe national territory, more specifically, in the Brazilian health industrial complex.