浪花直播

More than a year after the coronavirus made landfall in Latin America, the region has suffered 33 million cases and over a million fatalities. Despite high-profile 鈥渕edical diplomacy鈥� from countries such as the United States and China, the region鈥檚 COVID-19 response has suffered from chronic shortages of critical medical equipment and vaccines. To public health professionals, that was hardly a surprise: Latin America is heavily dependent on imports of medical supplies and of medical products used in the pandemic originated in the region. The same is true for vaccines. As the region suffers a new wave of the pandemic, of Latin Americans are vaccinated.

Fortunately, there are exceptions. Argentina, Brazil and Mexico, though ineffective at controlling the coronavirus鈥檚 spread, have retooled their local medical manufacturing resources to supplement international supplies and contribute to the regional pandemic response.

In 20th century Argentina, policies helped develop local manufacturing capabilities. Buoyed by subsidies and shielded from competition, manufacturing鈥檚 share of the economy 30 percent by 1970. Manufacturing declined significantly by the 1990s amid global shifts in production and changing domestic , and most of Argentina鈥檚 factory owners still rely on high tariffs. These days, however, Argentina鈥檚 manufacturing know-how is critical to COVID-19 response. In April 2021, Argentina became the first country in Latin America to Russia鈥檚 Sputnik vaccine; Buenos Aires-based Laboratorio Richmond plans mass production for use throughout the region. The next month, Argentine President Alberto Fern谩ndez and his Mexican counterpart, Andr茅s Manuel L贸pez Obrador, released the first batch of AstraZeneca vaccines from a that involves vaccine production in Argentina and bottling in Mexico. Argentina is also with China鈥檚 Sinopharm to manufacture its vaccine.

Argentina is also producing critical medical equipment. Of the few firms in South America to produce respirators, are in C贸rdoba. By March 2020, one of them, Tecme, had by 300 percent to supply local hospitals. Meanwhile, in just five months, Argentina鈥檚 Instituto Nacional de Tecnolog铆a Industrial developed a ventilator to help patients in the event of a shortage; local small- and medium-sized manufacturers can up to 100 per week. Argentina鈥檚 research strengths also facilitated domestic production of other medical supplies. In January 2021, authorities approved a COVID-19 developed by scientists at the Universidad Nacional de la Plata. Device components are sourced domestically, and the unit cost of $5 is significantly lower than the price Argentina pays for imported rapid tests.

Nevertheless, Argentina has struggled to respond to the 11th-highest COVID-19 case count in the world. Medical manufactures 4,300 people at 274 firms, but the country still imports of complex medical devices from in the United States, China and Germany. With Argentina鈥檚 intensive care units near capacity, the U.S. Southern Command recently donated to Argentina amid the country鈥檚 coronavirus resurgence.

Neighboring Brazil is best known for bungling its pandemic response, the subject of closely watched congressional hearings. It leads the region in cases and deaths. But Brazil鈥檚 manufacturing capabilities, including in the medical sciences, have also proved critical during the pandemic.

Brazil has a of mass vaccination campaigns to combat diseases like yellow fever. In 1980, it vaccinated 18 million children against polio in a single day, and in 2010, it administered 89 million swine flu vaccine doses in four months. As in Argentina, those capacities can be traced to a mid-20th century growth model, including the industrialization policies of Get煤lio Vargas and Juscelino Kubitschek that favored public investment in manufacturing in the urbanized southeast. Today, Brazil鈥檚 manufacturing is on par with the level in Canada and Russia, though Brazil鈥檚 most competitive industries are in the natural resources sectors, such as soy and iron ore.

During the pandemic, the Brazilian government has research on more than a dozen potential vaccines. Two of them 鈥� ButanVac and Versamune, developed by the and the University of S茫o Paulo, respectively 鈥� are in advanced stages of testing. ButanVac is awaiting approval from health authorities to begin human trials. Brazil hopes to begin inoculations with ButanVac in July, though that timeline is ambitious, and Butantan aims to produce and administer 40 million shots by the end of 2021. Brazil has begun initial review of the vaccine, which the University of S茫o Paulo is developing in partnership with Farmacore and PDS Biotechnology. Paperwork to begin clinical trials was to Anvisa, the Brazilian medical regulatory agency, in early May for the Versamune vaccine. Brazil is also producing foreign vaccines. Insituto Butantan is manufacturing China鈥檚 CoronaVac, and is manufacturing the AstraZeneca vaccine.

Despite its production capabilities, vaccine production in Brazil has suffered from shortages of imported active ingredients, due to production in India and China. (Criticism of China by Bolsonaro and his administration have Brazil secure supplies.) That has held back Brazil鈥檚 inoculation campaign, as the country struggles to contain a particularly contagious of the coronavirus. The country lacks a comprehensive , and the government was late to sign vaccine purchasing contracts, even rejecting an offer from for 70 million vaccines last August. However, individual states are stepping up; in December, S茫o Paulo broke ground on a new with the capacity to manufacture up to 100 million CoronaVac doses per year.

After Brazil, Mexico has the region鈥檚 pharmaceutical industry. In 2019, the sector generated $8.2 billion in revenue. Mexico鈥檚 medical device industry is even larger, accounting for $17 billion in annual exports. In all, its health sector 6 percent of GDP. Thanks to the integration of North American supply chains, and Mexico鈥檚 proximity to cities in the United States with advanced life science industries, Mexico鈥檚 pharmaceutical and medical device makers are relatively advanced. U.S. companies, as well as the largest U.S. pharmaceutical companies, including Johnson & Johnson, Merck and Pfizer, all have a sizable manufacturing presence in Mexico. U.S.-based Medtronic鈥檚 second-largest assembly plant is in Tijuana, for example, and GE Medical Systems, Becton Dickinson and Welch Allyn have large operations in northern Mexico.

Mexico鈥檚 advanced health science sector has proved instrumental in the country鈥檚 pandemic response. Like Bolsonaro, L贸pez Obrador has downplayed the severity of the coronavirus, leading to devastatingly rapid spread in Mexico. Fortunately, local scientists, engineers and domestic medical equipment suppliers helped support the overwhelmed health system. Mexico鈥檚 Consejo Nacional de Ciencia y Tecnolog铆a designed new s and researchers at the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM) developed a COVID-19 . Mexico鈥檚 health science industries also helped the United States address surging caseloads throughout the pandemic. Demand for medical devices built in Mexico has , up 1,000 percent for ventilators, 150 percent for thermometers and 430 percent for antibacterial sanitizers.

Mexico is also boosting the hemisphere鈥檚 vaccine manufacturing capabilities. L贸pez Obrador, who has lambasted wealthier countries for 鈥渉oarding鈥� vaccines, is bottling the first of AstraZeneca vaccines produced in partnership with Argentina, and the Mexican pharmaceutical company Liomont said the partnership could eventually churn out 20.8 million doses per month for distribution throughout the region.

In addition to the region鈥檚 manufacturing powerhouses, a handful of small countries are showing off their medical sector muscle. Cuba, for example, is administering its locally developed . Though neither has completed Phase III trials, Cuba is already planning to export 100 million doses before the end of 2021. Another small country with a large biotech industry, Costa Rica, saw its medical technology exports grow in the first four months of 2021, accounting for more than one-third of exports. After Mexico, the Central American nation is the second-largest of medical equipment in Latin America, and the 14th-largest in the world.

Still, despite scattered manufacturing strongholds, Latin America is largely at the mercy of foreign producers of medical equipment and vaccines, and so remains vulnerable to the of COVID-19 and its crushing demands on hospitals. Paraguay, Uruguay and Argentina lead the world in new COVID-19 deaths per capita, and Brazil, Bolivia and Colombia trail close behind. In the long list of lessons learned from COVID-19, the pandemic has shown the value of domestic medical industries in a region often criticized for its dependence on commodities and underperforming industrial policy.