On December 5th and 6th, Bio-Manguinhos was present at the meeting of the Product Development for Vaccines Advisory Committee (PDVAC) of the World Health Organization – WHO. The meeting took place in Geneva, Switzerland, and was attended by the vice-director of Technological Development at the Institute, Sotiris Missailidis.

The PDVAC is an independent standing committee of WHO experts that provides external advice to WHO related to priority infectious disease pathogens, associated vaccines and monoclonal antibody product development approaches and related manufacturing and distribution technologies.

The first face-to-face meeting of the PDVAC since 2019, this edition aimed to monitor progress in the development of new vaccines for the main pathogens as well as strengthen regional partnerships in order to meet the 2030 Immunization Agenda (IA2030), WHO's global strategy to maximize the impact of vaccines that, if fully implemented, will save 50 million lives over the next decade.

“It is very strategic for Bio-Manguinhos to participate more and more in meetings like this one at the PDVAC, because, in addition to the opportunity to be up-to-date with what is most modern in the world in terms of vaccine production, our participation represents a recognition of the Institute's role on the world stage with regard to the production of immunizers and offers opportunities to strengthen existing partnerships and form new ones”, says Sotiris Missailidis.

Journalist and translation: Thais Christ
Image: Bernardo Portella