Aspects Interfering on Research and Technology Capacity in Vaccine Development in Brazil
Aspects Interfering on Research and Technology Capacity in Vaccine Development in Brazil
Wednesday, 9 July 2025
Location: SJES008 (Faculty of Legal, Economic, and Social Sciences (JES))
Distributed Paper
The goal of this paper is to identify some of the hurdles that impinge on the development of vaccines in developing countries and some of the factors that enable them. We do so by analyzing
not only vaccines related to Covid-19, but also vaccines that deal with neglected diseases such as dengue fever and Zika virus. The justification for this research proposal lies in the negative
externalities that recurring infectious diseases cause to public health. During the Covid-19 Pandemic, in 2021 alone, there were about 640,000 confirmed cases of arboviruses in Brazil,
resulting in over 250 deaths (SVS, 2022). These figures indicate the relentless character of infectious diseases. Only in 2021 over 4,400 patients evolved to more serious symptoms of
dengue fever and, since the Zika virus PHEIC, there have still been almost 100 babies born with related congenital syndrome which, alongside their predecessors, will require continuous public
health care during the course of their lifetime (SVS, 2022b). Brazil is enduring its worse epidemic spate of dengue fever. We employ thematic analysis of interviews as the primary data collection instrument. Interviews
were conducted with key stakeholders in the Research, Development, and Innovation (R&D&I) field for neglected and re-emerging diseases within the Brazilian context, focusing on the Zika virus vaccine.
A total of 22 professionals agreed to participate in the study. We conclude this paper by outlining two sets of factors enabling the construction of research and technological development capacities, as well as two sets of barrriers in relation to those, that emerged from our research.
not only vaccines related to Covid-19, but also vaccines that deal with neglected diseases such as dengue fever and Zika virus. The justification for this research proposal lies in the negative
externalities that recurring infectious diseases cause to public health. During the Covid-19 Pandemic, in 2021 alone, there were about 640,000 confirmed cases of arboviruses in Brazil,
resulting in over 250 deaths (SVS, 2022). These figures indicate the relentless character of infectious diseases. Only in 2021 over 4,400 patients evolved to more serious symptoms of
dengue fever and, since the Zika virus PHEIC, there have still been almost 100 babies born with related congenital syndrome which, alongside their predecessors, will require continuous public
health care during the course of their lifetime (SVS, 2022b). Brazil is enduring its worse epidemic spate of dengue fever. We employ thematic analysis of interviews as the primary data collection instrument. Interviews
were conducted with key stakeholders in the Research, Development, and Innovation (R&D&I) field for neglected and re-emerging diseases within the Brazilian context, focusing on the Zika virus vaccine.
A total of 22 professionals agreed to participate in the study. We conclude this paper by outlining two sets of factors enabling the construction of research and technological development capacities, as well as two sets of barrriers in relation to those, that emerged from our research.