Brazil halts trials of Chinese Covid-19 vaccine
After a detrimental incident involving a volunteer recipientBrazil suspended clinical trials of a Chinese developed coronavirus vaccine, said health regulator of Brazil.
The setback for CoronaVac, developed by Chinese pharmaceutical firm Sinovac Biotech, came on a single day US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer said its own vaccine candidate had displayed 90 percent effectiveness, sending global markets soaring and raising hopes of an end to the pandemic.
The Brazilian regulator, Anvisa, said in a statement it had“ruled to interrupt the clinical trial of the CoronaVac vaccine after a serious adverse incident” on October 29.
It said it could not give information on what happened because of privacy regulations, but that such incidents included death, potentially fatal side effects, serious disability, hospitalization, birth defects and other clinically significant events.
The institute “is investigating in detail what happened,” and “reaches the Brazilian regulatory agency’s disposal to supply any clarification necessary on any adverse incident the clinical trials may have presented,” it said.
It said it would hold a press conference on Tuesday at 11:00 am (1400 GMT).
CoronaVac has been swept up in a messy political battle inBrazil, where its most obvious backer has been Sao Paulo Governor Joao Doria, atop opponent of far-right President Jair Bolsonaro.
