Brazil is conducting tests with an experimental vaccine against the COVID-19but the minister ad interim of Health, Eduardo Pazuello, acknowledged on Tuesday that the government has not finalized an agreement to get supplies of the drug in case of work. In the meantime, other countries have already secured hundreds of millions of doses of a vaccine created by the University of Oxford.
The response of the south american country to the pandemic of coronavirus has been strongly criticized since march, when president Jair Bolsonaro began to defy the recommendations of social distancing. Hours before Pazuello presented to the Congress, a judge ordered that Bolsonaro had to use a mask whenever you leave the public way in the capital, Brasilia.
Pazuello, an army general with a long history in logistics, spoke about the efforts of Brazil to acquire a vaccine against the COVID-19, or to obtain the technology necessary for its manufacturing. The national regulator of health Anvisa approved this month clinical tests on humans for a potential vaccine.
The official said the government could decide on the acquisition of a possible vaccine towards the end of the week, but that will depend on the head of the cabinet.
British researchers began testing the experimental vaccine in the last month, with the goal of immunizing more than 10,000 people, including the elderly and children. The vaccine was created in Oxford is one of about a dozen that are in the initial stages of testing in humans.
Brazil, where the epidemic continues to increase, and the United Kingdom are the only countries where tests are made of the vaccine. The south american nation has more than one million confirmed cases of COVID-19 and more than 52.600 deaths.
The clinical trials began Monday in Sao Paulo and will begin in Rio de Janeiro on Wednesday. the british embassy in Brazil reported that vaccinated 5,000 health professionals.
“We work directly with the three (shots) most promising,” said Pazuello, referring to the that developed in Oxford, to a developed by the company american Modern and the other experimental from China, without giving more details.
Bolsonaro has been criticized for undermining the importance of the response of his government to the pandemic, by comparing to the disease with a “gripita”.
The united states announced on may 21 an agreement to acquire at least 300 million doses of vaccine to Oxford, and committed to invest up to 1,200 million dollars to that end. On the 13th of June, the pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca agreed to provide up to 400 million doses of an experimental vaccine to countries of the European Union. There are also negotiations with Russia, Japan, and other nations, noted the general director of the company.
Brazil will test during the month of July, another experimental vaccine developed by the chinese company Sinovac Biotech, according to the government of the state of Sao Paulo. Sinovac has a production agreement with the Instituto Butantan of the state. This study is expected to count with the participation of about 9,000 brazilians.
Hours before the Tuesday, a federal judge ordered him to Bolsonaro comply with the local rules of the use of mask or risk being fined.
On weekends recent, Bolsonaro — with the face uncovered — it has been integrated to the crowds that are protesting against the Congress and the Supreme Court. Also, have you visited pastry shops and food stalls, attracting groups of followers and curious.
From the end of April is governed in the federal district of Brazil, the standard of which all must wear a protective mask in public to prevent the spread of the coronavirus, or otherwise, they must pay a fine equivalent to 390 dollars.
The judge Renato Coelho Borelli noted in its judgement that the president “has exposed other people to the spread of a disease that has rocked the nation.”
The representative brazilian not commented by the time of the fault. A previous court decision required that Bolsonaro was to publish the results of the three diagnostic analysis that was performed at the beginning of march, which was negative. It has not revealed that have been subjected to more tests since then.
Bolsonaro do use a mask in some public events, unlike other heads of state as the american, Donald Trump, the mexican Andrés Manuel López Obrador and the argentine Alberto Fernandez, who often embraces their supporters and take selfies with them, with unveiled face, despite the fact that the use of mask is compulsory in the capital of argentina.
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