São Paulo Gov. Joao Doria holds a box of the CoronaVac vaccine during a press conference. Photo: Alexandre Schneider via Getty Images
A coronavirus vaccine produced by Chinese company Sinovac is 78% effective, Brazil officials announced Thursday.
Why it matters: Regulators in other countries are closely following the Phase 3 trials in Brazil. If the vaccine is approved for use, it could help fill a gap in access to coronavirus vaccines for many low- and middle-income countries.
Details: Brazil’s Butantan Institute, a medical research institute in São Paulo, conducted the study of the vaccine, named CoronaVac, with 12,476 volunteers.
- The vaccine prevented all participants from developing severe cases of COVID-19, officials said.
- Brazil has the third-highest number of cases in the world after the U.S. and India, data from Johns Hopkins University shows.
- The Butantan Institute said it will request authorization for emergency use of the vaccine in Brazil, per the Wall Street Journal.
- Other countries, including Turkey and Indonesia, are also testing the CoronaVac vaccine.
The big picture: Sinovac has already sold over 300 million doses, primarily to low- and middle-income countries, per New York Times.
- Sinovac says it will be able to produce 600 million doses this year.
Health regulators in China said late last month that they have approved the country's first homegrown COVID-19 vaccine, developed by the state-owned pharmaceutical company Sinopharm, for general use.
- Sinopharm said that preliminary data have shown the vaccine to be 79.3% effective, though experts have said important data is missing.
Go deeper...The challenge of 2021: Vaccinating the world