Butantan Institute Claims CoronaVac Is “Safest” Vaccine Tested in Brazil
RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – During a press conference on Wednesday, December 23rd, the Butantan Institute and the government of São Paulo announced that the first results of the CoronaVac‘s safety and efficacy phase 3 trials had arrived. CoronaVac is a vaccine against Covid-19 tested and produced by the Institute in partnership with Chinese Sinovac pharmaceutical company.
According to the Institute’s director Dimas Covas, the “high standard” demanded by the World Health Organization was achieved, and the immunizer would be the safest of those currently being tested in Brazil.
However, for contractual reasons, the data supporting these claims could not be presented. According to Covas, the Chinese company requested 15 days to analyze the results in order to compare them with phase 3 trials conducted with the vaccine in other countries. The Butantan director said that in addition to China, the CoronaVac is also being administered to volunteers in Indonesia and Turkey.
In Brazil, over 13,000 volunteers have taken part in the last trial phase, in 16 study centers. Adverse events were rare and mild, the main one of which was pain in the injection site. There were no significant differences in this effect between the group that received the vaccine and the one receiving a placebo, according to the Butantan director.
Dimas Covas also reported that on Thursday, December 24th, Brazil will receive 5.5 million CoronaVac doses, which will land at Viracopos airport in Campinas (SP). São Paulo’s Health Secretary Jean Gorynchtein confirmed that vaccination in the state will start on January 25th, 2021. “Despite this non-disclosure of data with respect to specific efficacy values, we have secured its high standard,” said Gorynchtein.
According to João Gabbardo, coordinator of the São Paulo Government’s Committee to Fight Covid-19, in early January the Butantan should submit to ANVISA its request for emergency use of the CoronaVac. The agency has ten days to assess it and, if approved, the vaccination start date is maintained.
Source: Galileu
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