By Leonardo Benassatto
SERRANA, Brazil (Reuters) – The COVID-19 vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac Biotech is effective against British and South African variants, the Brazilian partner of the vaccine said on Wednesday, citing test results in Chinese trials .
“We tested this vaccine in China against the English and South African variants, with good results,” said Dimas Covas, head of the Butantan Biomedical Center in Sao Paulo, who led the local vaccination of the Chinese vaccine, and doses provided to Brazil’s Health Ministry.
Covas did not provide further details on exactly how effective the vaccine was against these strains.
Butantan is also testing the vaccine, known as CoronaVac, against the Brazilian variant of the virus that appeared in the city of Manaus, he said.
“Soon we will achieve the results and we are very positive that it will do the job,” Covas said.
Covas spoke at a news conference in the city of Serrana in the interior of the state of Sao Paulo, where Butantan on Wednesday launched a mass vaccination campaign to vaccinate the entire adult population against COVID-19 to test whether it lowers the infection rate. .
Covas said it expects CoronaVac to have an advantage over other vaccines because of the technology it uses – an inactivated version of a coronavirus strain.
The effectiveness of especially the Chinese vaccine against the Brazilian strain is of great importance to Brazil. The government has secured 100 million doses and made the vaccine a focal point of its vaccination campaign.
Covas’ comments come as several cities in Brazil, including capitals of Rio, Salvador and Cuiaba, have suspended new vaccinations as doses run out.
(Report by Leonardo Benassatto, written by Sabrina Valle; edited by Stephen Eisenhammer and Aurora Ellis)