The Brazilian government today announced an agreement with Oxford University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to produce a promising coronavirus vaccine that is undergoing tests.
Brazilian Health Ministry authorities said at a news conference that the country will pay $US127 million and receive material to produce 30.4 million doses in two batches in December and January, which would allow it to quickly start inoculation efforts if the vaccine is certified to be safe and effective.
They said the total deal is for 100 million vaccines for a country of about 210 million residents. It will be produced by local vaccine maker Fiocruz.
British researchers started testing the experimental shot in May aiming to immunise more than 10,000 people, including older people and children.
The vaccine is one of about a dozen in the early stages of human testing.
Brazil, where coronavirus infections are still on the rise, counts more than 1 million confirmed cases and more than 55,900 fatalities.
The World Health Organization’s chief scientist, Soumya Swaminathan, said yesterday that AstraZeneca’s experimental vaccine is probably the world’s leading candidate and most advanced in terms of development.
