Brazil receives request for use of COVID-19 vaccine Sinopharm

Brazil’s sanitary regulator Anvisa on Monday (Jul. 26) received a new request for the temporary authorization of the emergency use of a vaccine against COVID-19. This time, the request was sent by Chinese laboratory Sinopharm and presented by Blau Farmacêutica, representing the inoculation in Brazil.

Technology

The Sinopharm vaccine is produced with an inactivated form of the virus. The inoculation is administered in two doses, with a three to four month interval between the two. The product is recommended for people aged 18 and older, according to the data known so far.

“The development of the vaccine had no clinical studies conducted in Brazil, which is no obstacle to submitting the request for the authorization of the emergency use or registration with Anvisa. The research was carried out in countries like Argentina, Peru, the Arab Emirates, Egypt, and China,” Anvisa explained in a note.

In Brazil, the deadline for assessing the request does not include the time elapsed under a technical requirement status—when the laboratory in question needs to answer technical questions posed by the regulator as part of the process.

The vaccine was approved for emergency use by the World Health Organization in May this year.