SAO PAULO (AP) – A vaccine candidate created by Sinovac of China is 78% effective at protecting against the coronavirus, according to the results of a study announced Thursday by Brazilian health officials seeking federal approval of the shot.
More than 12,000 health professionals took part in the study, which discovered 218 cases of COVID-19 – about 160 of those who received a placebo instead of the actual vaccine.
Turkish officials said last month that a smaller, accompanying study in that country of the same vaccine candidate found an efficacy rate of more than 90%.
The government of the state of Sao Paulo, which has signed a contract for the vaccine, said it will ask Brazil’s federal health regulators Friday for emergency permission to start using it. Government João Doria plans to launch a vaccination campaign on January 25 for the state’s 46 million residents.
The Butantan Institute of Sao Paulo, Sinovac’s partner in Brazil, has not released data such as results by age and gender or the number of asymptomatic volunteers in the sample, which many epidemiologists need to assess whether the shot meets safety standards.
Officials said details will be published after Brazil’s health authority approves the vaccine. They did not give a date for publication in scientific publications.
Gonzalo Vecina, one of the founders of the Brazilian health agency, said the data disclosed so far is reassuring enough to approve the shot for emergency use.
“In general, we have enough information to register and use,” Vecina told The Associated Press. “We need 320 million vaccines for 160 million Brazilians, that’s our population over 18 years old. If the federal government doesn’t do it, the state governments will, but we have to do it quickly. We are already lagging behind many countries. “
The health agency said in a statement that it has not yet received complete data on the investigation.
The researchers reported no serious side effects in the study.
The US has required vaccine candidates to be tested on at least 30,000 people to determine safety and effectiveness.
The Sinovac candidate was ready for late-stage testing at a time when China had spread so little coronavirus that the company was forced to look to multiple locations abroad to gather the necessary data.
“Today is the day of hope, the day of life,” Doria said at a press conference. Brazil is approaching 200,000 deaths from the virus.
The Governor of Sao Paulo is an opponent of President Jair Bolsonaro, who has downplayed the risks of the pandemic since its inception and has repeatedly questioned the quality of the Chinese vaccine.
Following Doria’s announcement, Brazilian Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello said at a press conference in Brasilia that the Bolsonaro government would purchase up to 100 million doses of the Sinovac shot. The Sao Paulo state government confirmed the deal, with an initial provision of 46 million doses.
“These shots will be distributed equally and evenly across all states, just like the AstraZeneca,” said Pazuello.
Brazil’s federal government has already signed a deal to secure up to 100 million doses of the vaccine created by AstraZeneca, 70 million of which are homegrown.
Pazuello said withdrawals made by pharmaceutical companies Pfizer and Moderna, which have already been proven to be effective, are expensive and pose many legal problems. He also said the Brazilian government is keen to buy single vaccines that will be developed by Jansen if they work.
In the evening, shortly after Brazil surpassed 200,000 deaths from COVID-19 in its official count, the Sao Paulo government said it had reached a deal with Brazil’s Ministry of Health to provide 46 million doses of its vaccine. It did not say whether it would hold the start of its vaccination campaign on Jan. 25.
Earlier on Thursday, Bolsonaro told supporters in the capital, Brasilia, that vaccines approved for emergency use should not be mandatory, without mentioning the Sinovac shot. So far his government has no national vaccination plan.
“No one can force anyone to take something whose consequences are not yet known,” said Bolsonaro. The president, who had previously witnessed a COVID-19 attack, reiterated that he will not take a vaccine.
Another Chinese company, SinoPharm, announced last week that its similar vaccine is about 79% effective. Both vaccines depend on inactivated viruses.