Tests with volunteers in Brazil will contribute to vaccine registration
Tests on Brazilian volunteers of the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford, in England, against covid-19, a respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus, began last weekend at the Federal University of São Paulo (Unifesp), it said in a note, last night (22), the Lemann Foundation, which finances the project.
Tests for the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine in Brazil were announced earlier this month and are expected, according to Unifesp, to have two thousand volunteers in São Paulo and one thousand in Rio de Janeiro, where they will be carried out by Rede D’Or.
“Last weekend (June 20th and 21st), the Lemann Foundation had the opportunity to celebrate with the partners involved and responsible specialists, the start of tests in São Paulo for the ChAdOx1 nCoV-19 vaccine, led globally by the University of Oxford ”, informed the Lemann Foundation, by billionaire businessman Jorge Paulo Lemann.
According to Unifesp, volunteers in São Paulo will be health professionals between 18 and 55 years old and other employees who work at Hospital São Paulo, linked to Escola Paulista Medicina, from Unifesp.
Vaccine registration should come out this year
Earlier this month, Unifesp reported that tests with Brazilian volunteers will contribute to the vaccine registration in the United Kingdom, scheduled for the end of this year. Formal registration, however, will only occur after the studies are completed in all participating countries, the university said.
The vaccine, whose order for tests in Brazil was made to the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) by the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca, is currently in phase 3 of tests, “which means that the vaccine is among the most advanced stages of development” , said Unifesp.
Brazil is the first country outside the United Kingdom to start testing with the vaccine developed by the University of Oxford and one of the reasons that led to the choice was the fact that the pandemic is on the rise in the country.
Another vaccine against covid-19, developed by the Chinese company Sinovac, should start to be tested in Brazil next month, in partnership with the Butantan Institute, linked to the government of the State of São Paulo.
This test, according to the institute, will be financed by the São Paulo government and should have nine thousand volunteers. If the vaccine is successful, the agreement provides for the possibility of producing the Butantan Institute.
