China's COVID-19 vaccine trials suspended in Brazil after 'severe incident'

Brazil's health regulator Anvisa said on Monday it has suspended clinical trials of China's Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine, following a "severe incident".

The health regulator in a statement referred to the "incident", that occurred on October 29, without revealing further information.

"National Health Surveillance Agency ANVISA has temporarily suspended human testing of the Chinese vaccine Coronavac due to 'a serious adverse effect,'" Sputnik reported, citing Anvisa's statement.

President Jair Bolsonaro on Monday had said that their government would buy whatever coronavirus vaccine is certified by Anvisa.

Brazil's move to suspend the clinical trials of the Chinese vaccine comes amid a rising number of coronavirus cases. On Monday, the country registered 10,917 new cases, taking the country's tally to 5,590,025, while deaths rose to 161,106.

The setback for China's CoronaVac vaccine came in the backdrop of US pharmaceutical giant Pfizer's announcement that said its own vaccine candidate had shown 90 per cent effectiveness.

"I would say it is a historical moment. Something like this has never happened before. First of all, the world was faced with such a terrible situation, the pandemic, and being able in such a short time to go through what usually takes many years," Washington Post quoted Kathrin Jansen, head of vaccine research and development at Pfizer, as saying.

Both the Sinovac and Pfizer vaccines are in the final stage of testing before regulatory approval.

(ANI)

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