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By Eduardo Simões
SAO PAULO, Dec 30 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca said on
Wednesday it is working to offer its COVID-19 vaccine to
Brazilians as soon as possible, seeking regulatory approval in
Brazil after authorization in the UK.
Britain on Wednesday became the first country in the world
to approve the coronavirus vaccine developed by Oxford
University and AstraZeneca. The U.K. approval offers hope to
Brazil, which has made the cheap and sturdy British vaccine the
cornerstone of its widely criticized vaccine plan.
President Jair Bolsonaro, a prominent coronavirus skeptic
who has said he will not take any COVID-19 vaccine, is under
pressure to speed up Brazil's rollout, as regional peers Mexico
and Chile have already begun immunizations.
The Fiocruz biomedical institute, overseen by the federal
government, has partnered with AstraZeneca on trials and
production of its vaccine, with plans to buy 100 million doses
for the government by June and eventually produce it locally.
Fiocruz said it will seek approval for the AstraZeneca
vaccine on Jan. 15. Health Ministry officials say nationwide
vaccinations could begin Jan. 20 in a best-case scenario.
In its statement, AstraZeneca said it would keep up the
ongoing submission of its late-stage trial results in order to
seek full regulatory approval, but made no mention of seeking
emergency use approval: a process that vaccine maker Pfizer Inc
has described as cumbersome in Brazil.
The U.K. approval may add to pressure on Brazilian health
regulator Anvisa to expedite its own approval processes.
Anvisa did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
While some vaccines, such as Pfizer's COVID-19 shot, must be
supercooled to -70 degrees Celsius (-94 Fahrenheit), the
AstraZeneca vaccine only needs normal refrigeration, making it a
more robust candidate for developing countries such as Brazil.
(Reporting by Eduardo Simoes
Writing by Gabriel Stargardter
Editing by Brad Haynes, Chizu Nomiyama and Jonathan Oatis)
