Clinical trials of China's COVID-19 vaccine suspended
Clinical trials of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine has been suspended following a 'severe incident', Brazil's health regulator Anvisa said on Monday. "National Health Surveillance Agency ANVISA has temporarily suspended human testing of the Chinese vaccine Coronavac due to 'a serious adverse effect'," Sputnik quoted Anvisa as saying. The health regulator referred an incident reported on October 29 and refused to reveal any further information.
President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday had said that their government would buy whatever coronavirus vaccine is certified by Anvisa.
Brazil's move to suspend the clinical trials of the Chinese vaccine comes amid a rising number of coronavirus cases. On Monday, the country registered 10,917 new cases, taking the country's tally to 5,590,025, while deaths rose to 161,106.
The setback for China's CoronaVac vaccine came in the backdrop of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer's announcement that said its own vaccine candidate had shown 90 per cent effectiveness.
"I would say it is a historical moment. Something like this has never happened before. First of all, the world was faced with such a terrible situation, the pandemic, and being able in such a short time to go through what usually takes many years," Washington Post quoted Kathrin Jansen, head of vaccine research and development at Pfizer, as saying.
Both the Sinovac and Pfizer vaccines are in the final stage of testing before regulatory approval.
(With inputs from ANI)
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