Since the coronavirus pandemic was first declared a pandemic by the WHO, numerous pharmaceutical companies and governments have started working on developing a potential vaccine. China seems to be leading the process, and on Tuesday, Brazil also announced that it would use the Chinese-made vaccines as part of its country-wide immunization program.
The federal government decided to buy 46 million of coronavirus dozes, the governor of São Paulo said. João Doria added that the authorities plan to begin the program as early as the beginning of the next year, making its one of a kind strategy to curb the pandemic as Brazil remains among the worst-affected countries across the world.
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So far, the health authorities have recorded 5.3 million confirmed infections with 155,000 fatalities, the data from the John Hopkins University suggested. In terms of death, the Latin American country is only second to the US.
However, the vaccine made by China’s Sinovac Biotech is yet to be approved by Brazil’s drug regulatory authority. Once approved, one of the two vaccines is expected to be part of the country’s ambitious immunization program. The second vaccine is created by England’s Oxford University and a pharmaceutical company called AstraZeneca.
Previously, the Governor of Sao Paulo had touted the Chinese vaccine, announcing the use of the drug to inoculate the residents of the state. Currently, it is being tested and reviewed by the state’s health research center. On Monday, Sao Paulo’s Butantan Institute announced that the two-dozed Chinese vaccine seems to be safe in a late-stage clinical trial.
The research center further warned that it is too early to determine the test results as the trials are still being conducted in Indonesia and Turkey. It said that the data to determine the effectiveness of the vaccine will only be made public after the trials.
