SÃO PAULO – Sinovac Biotech Ltd.’s Covid-19 vaccine, which scientists hope can help fight the pandemic in the developing world, has crossed the 50% threshold for efficacy in late-stage studies in Brazil , which means regulators can give the green light for use, said people involved in the development.
Brazil is the first country to complete Phase 3 trials of the Chinese company’s CoronaVac vaccine, which is also being tested in Indonesia and Turkey. With Covid-19 largely under control in China, the country’s vaccine developers had to conduct their clinical trials abroad.
People involved in the Brazilian studies, which completed Phase 3 last week, told The Wall Street Journal that the results showed that CoronaVac has an effective rate of over 50%, the threshold for a vaccine to be considered viable by international scientists. The people refused to provide further information. But scientists who follow the vaccine’s development say they expect it to show efficacy comparable to other Covid-19 vaccines that have been shown to be 95% effective in trials.
“Everyone is hoping for an efficacy rate of more than 90%,” said Domingos Alves, a professor at Ribeirão Preto Medical School in São Paulo who specializes in analyzing health data. “The results of the early stages of the trials were very good.”
Brazil’s Butantan Institute, the research center supported by the São Paulo state government that tested CoronaVac, is ready to announce the vaccine’s efficacy Wednesday. Butantan said Monday it considers any information currently being given about the vaccine’s efficacy as “mere speculation.”
São Paulo government João Doria said he plans to vaccinate the entire state, which is home to about a fifth of Brazil’s population, by the end of July – almost a year ahead of the federal government’s pledge to kill the rest of Brazil’s population. vaccinate.
Rio de Janeiro’s Ipanema Beach on Sundays.
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Mr Doria said the results of CoronaVac’s Phase 3 testing would be presented to regulators in both China and Brazil on Wednesday, adding that the state of São Paulo plans to administer the vaccine on Jan. 25.
Butantan, which also started production of the Sinovac vaccine in Brazil this month, has agreed with the private Chinese company to become the distributor of CoronaVac in Latin America. In May, Butantan plans to ship the vaccine to Argentina, Bolivia, Colombia, Honduras, Peru and Uruguay, Butantan’s director Dimas Covas said in an interview.
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While richer countries are buying up supplies of Covid-19 vaccines from Western drug manufacturers that are still in development, China and Russia are offering their quick injections to poorer countries. This is what they hope to get back. Illustration: Ksenia Shaikhutdinova
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