A volunteer participates in the Coronavac tests in Istanbul.Emrah Gurel / AP
Coronavac, the vaccine that the Chinese laboratory Sinovac has developed in conjunction with the Butantan Institute, has shown to be 78% effective against covid-19 in the trial that has been carried out in Brazil and that has been sponsored by the Government of São Paulo, according to state health authorities.
The vaccine, which is at the center of the political dispute between President Jair Bolsonaro and Governor João Doria, was also able to protect vaccinated volunteers who contracted the disease from death, as the Government of São Paulo had already highlighted.
The data will be detailed in a press conference that will be offered this Wednesday.
According to the governor, the request to the Brazilian National Sanitary Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) has already begun so that the vaccine can be used in an emergency.
The São Paulo government hopes to begin vaccinating priority groups - which include the elderly, health professionals, indigenous people, and quilombolas (descendants of rebellious slaves) - on January 25.
It is estimated that 9 million people will have been vaccinated by March.
Since July, 13,000 Brazilian volunteers have been injected with Coronavac or a placebo.
By November, the phase 3 trial had already passed the minimum number of 151 infected volunteers to present preliminary results, which offers more robustness to the results.
Preliminary data had to be initially submitted on December 12, but there were several postponements.
First, the Government of São Paulo changed its strategy and reported that it preferred to present more consolidated data in order to request from Anvisa the definitive authorization and not the emergency authorization.
But days later he backed down and announced that he would request the two authorizations.
Efficacy results were expected to be presented on 23 December, but the Butantan Institute again postponed submission, citing a contractual clause that determined that exact outcome data could not be published until Sinovac consolidated the global trial results in all countries where the vaccine had been tested.
In recent weeks, authorities have repeated that the vaccine had been shown to be effective and safe.
Finally, last Tuesday morning the representatives of both organizations met to present the Brazilian study.
The Government of São Paulo hopes to have authorization from the sanitary surveillance agency to be able to start vaccination on January 25.
In addition to the outpatient clinics, the state plans to convert schools, train stations and pharmacies into vaccination points and also implement a drive thru, so that citizens enter with their vehicle, get vaccinated and can return home.
The idea is to vaccinate 9 million people in three months.
To complete the entire first phase, 18 million doses are needed.
The Government affirms that it has already bought syringes and estimates that 27 million will be needed in this phase.
So far, some 10.8 million doses of Coronavac have reached Brazil.
But this regional plan competes directly with the national vaccination plan.
Due to the political dispute between Doria and Bolsonaro and the pressure exerted by the other governors, the federal government is running against time to start immunization before São Paulo.
A day before the announcement of the Coronavac data, Health Minister Eduardo Pazuello came out on television to promise that immunization would begin in January.
He spoke of a forecast of 354 million doses for 2021, with 100 million doses of Coronavac offered by the Butantan Institute through a memorandum of understanding.
Pazuello did not specify exactly when the vaccines would be available, but said that in recent days he had negotiated the acquisition of 2 million doses of Astrazeneca.
The minister also announced a Provisional Measure signed by the president to guarantee the purchase of vaccines even before Anvisa approves them, an argument repeated by federal health authorities to justify the delay in negotiations.
Information about the coronavirus
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- Questions and answers about the coronavirus
- Guide to action against the disease
- In case of symptoms, these are the telephones that have been enabled in each Latin American country.
