The Brazilian regulator on Sunday approved the emergency use of two vaccines against COVID-19, the British AstraZeneca and the Chinese CoronaVac, the first two to get the green light in Brazil, where the pandemic has already made almost 210,000 dead.
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This authorization announced by the regulator Anvisa made it possible to launch the vaccination campaign in Brazil. It will initially use CoronaVac, produced by the Chinese company Sinovac in collaboration with the Brazilian institute Butantan, the only vaccine currently available in the country.
It is a 54-year-old nurse from Sao Paulo who was the first person vaccinated against Covid-19 in Brazil on Sunday, AFP noted.
Mônica Calazans, a nurse at Emilio Ribas Hospital, received a first injection of the CoronaVac vaccine, during a ceremony attended by the Governor of the State of Sao Paulo, Joao Doria.
The Chinese CoronaVac vaccine is developed in partnership with the Butantan Institute in Sao Paulo, while the AstraZeneca / Oxford vaccine is produced in Bombay by the Serum laboratory in partnership with the Fiocruz Foundation of the Brazilian Ministry of Health.
Six million doses of the CoronaVac vaccine are already in the powerful state of Sao Paulo, whose governor, Joao Doria, is competing with Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro to lead the vaccination campaign.