A vaccine candidate made by a Chinese firm Sinovac was 78% effective in protecting against coronavirus, based on results of a study announced on Thursday by state health officials in Brazil. The health officials want the vaccine approved to be administered to Brazilians.
Over 12,000 health workers took part in the study. The study detected 218 cases of COVID-19 – about 160 participants received a placebo rather than the actual vaccine.
Meanwhile, in Turkey, a similar study was conducted, but on a smaller number of participants. The same vaccine candidate recorded an efficiency rate above 90%.
Vaccination Campaign
Sao Paolo state’s government indicated that it would seek federal health regulators for emergency approval to begin to administer it. Governor Joao Doria wants to start a vaccination campaign for the state’s residents, who number up to about 46 million residents, on January 25th.
Butantan Institute, the local partner of Sinovac in Brazil, did not disclose data in detail. Epidemiologists require these details to determine whether the shot complies with safety standards.
Officials stated that the details of the test would be published after the vaccine candidate is approved. They did not give a particular date for disclosure in scientific publications.
An official of Brazil’s health agency, Gonzalo Vecina, said the data so far received is reassuring enough for the approval to be successful.
“In general terms, we presently do not have enough information to go ahead to register and administer it,”
Vecina told Journalists. “We need 320 million vaccines for our population above 18 years of age.
No Side Effects
If the federal government cannot achieve this, the state governments would have to take responsibility. But we need to act fast as we are already behind many nations.
The researchers reported that during the study, there were no side effects. The U.S. requires that vaccine candidates be tested on at least 30,000 people to determine their safety and effectiveness.
When the Sinovac candidate was ready for late-stage testing, the spread of coronavirus in China had dropped so much that it became difficult to find people to participate in testing. The company was forced to look abroad to get the required people to participate.
Coronavirus in Brazil has caused nearly 2,000 deaths.
“Today is the day of hope, the day we have a chance to live and breathe,” Doria said in a news conference.
The Governor of Sao Paolo is an adversary of President Jair Bolsonaro. Bolsonaro has downplayed the pandemic risks from the outset, repeatedly questioning the quality of the Chinese vaccine candidate.
Equitable Distribution
Following the announcement from Doria, Eduardo Pazuello, Brazil’s health minister, said at a news conference in Brasilia that the administration of Bolsonaro would purchase and stock up about 100 million doses of the Sinovac shot.
The Government of Sao Paolo state confirmed the deal. 46 million doses have been provided an initial purchase.
“The shots would be equitably and proportionately assigned to all states,” Pazuello said.
Brazil’s government struck a deal to purchase up to 100 million doses of vaccine made by AstraZeneca. 70% of the doses were produced right in Brazil.
According to Pazuello, shots made by pharmaceutical companies that have been confirmed effective tend to be pricey and involve many legal concerns. In light of this, the Brazilian government is keen to buy single-shot vaccines developed by Jansen if they prove effective.
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Vaccination not Compulsory
A little after Brazil passed 200,000 deaths by COVID-19, the Sao Paolo state government said it had reached a deal with the health ministry to provide 46 million doses of its vaccine. They did not say, however, if the vaccination campaign would begin on January 25th.
Earlier on Thursday, the governor, Bolso, announced that vaccines approved for emergency use should not be compulsory. Also stating that his administration had no national vaccination plan.
“No one should force a person to take doses whose consequences not certain,” Bolsonaro said.
The president, who had earlier experienced a COVID-19 infection, repeated that he would not take any vaccine.
Another Chinese company, SinoPharm, announced last week that it had a similar vaccine, which is about 79% effective. Both the vaccine by Sinovac and SinoPharm rely on inactivated viruses.
