SERRANA, Brazil (Reuters) – The COVID-19 vaccine developed by Sinovac Biotech of China is effective against the British and South African variants, the vaccine’s Brazilian partner said Wednesday, citing test results in Chinese trials.
“We have tested this vaccine in China against the English and South African variants, with good results,” said Dimas Covas, head of the Butantan biomedical center in Sao Paulo, which is leading domestic trials of the Chinese vaccine and providing doses to Brazil. health centre. Ministry.
Covas did not provide further details on how effective the vaccine turned out to be against these strains.
Butantan is also testing the vaccine, known as CoronaVac, against the Brazilian variant of the virus that showed up in the city of Manaus, he said.
“We will have the results soon and we are very confident it will get the job done,” said Covas.
Covas spoke at a press conference in the small town of Serrana, in the interior of Sao Paulo state, where Butantan kicked off a massive vaccination campaign on Wednesday aimed at vaccinating the entire adult population against COVID-19 to test whether it reduces infection rates. .
Covas said he expects CoronaVac to have an advantage over other vaccines because of the technology it uses – an inactivated version of a coronavirus strain.
In particular, the effectiveness of the Chinese vaccine against the Brazilian strain will be of vital importance to Brazil. The government has secured 100 million doses and made the vaccine a centerpiece in its vaccination campaign.
Covas’s comments come because several cities in Brazil, including Rio state capitals, Salvador and Cuiaba, have suspended new vaccinations because they ran out of doses.
Report by Leonardo Benassatto, written by Sabrina Valle; edited by Stephen Eisenhammer and Aurora Ellis