CoronaVac | SP government expands COVID-19 vaccine testing

To accelerate the third and final phase of the study still underway for the CoronaVac vaccine, the State of São Paulo announced on Friday (23) the creation of six new research centers to test the immunizer against COVID-19. To reach more volunteers, the initiative helps demonstrate the safety and efficacy of the vaccine being developed by the Butantan Institute, in partnership with the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac.

“The vaccine, which is the topic of the moment, is the protection of life and a right of all Brazilians. In the case of the pandemic, the vaccine is the only way to fully resume the economy, face-to-face education, events for the general public, tourism and a return to normalcy, ”said Governor João Doria about the importance of tests during a press conference. Press release.

Why expand CoronaVac testing?

The new CoronaVac test centers will be supervised by researchers from the Emílio Ribas Institute of Infectology. Regarding their distribution, four will be installed in hospitals on the outskirts of the capital, where it has been shown that the rate of contamination by the new coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) is higher than in central neighborhoods. In addition to these, two others will be in the ABC region, which already has the Municipal University of São Caetano do Sul as a test site.

Thus, the government seeks to increase the number of health professionals – this is because the clinical study is limited to these professionals – who participate in the tests with CoronaVac. So far, 9,039 people have volunteered for this survey and it is divided into seven states. With the new centers, the focus is on expanding to 13,000 volunteers at 22 research sites. This expansion is already authorized by the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa).

“With the opening of these centers, we will gain speed so that this demonstration of effectiveness can appear as soon as possible. We hope this will happen in November or mid-December ”, commented Dimas Covas, director of the Butantan Institute, during the same press conference.

According to the government, it is still necessary that at least 61 participants who have received the vaccine (and not the placebo) are contaminated by the coronavirus. From this sample, it will be compared with the total of those who received the vaccine and, eventually, also received a positive diagnosis for COVID-19. This is because the study is double blind, that is, one part of the volunteers receives CoronaVac and the other takes a placebo drug (no effect).

COVID-19 vaccine

The Butantan Institute presents a new label for the vaccine against COVID-19 💉#institutobutantan #vacinacovid #butantan #vacinabutantan pic.twitter.com/g2D6YXy3YN

– Butantan Institute (@butantanoficial) October 22, 2020

Along with the Oxford vaccine, CoronaVac is a great national commitment to combat COVID-19, which has caused the death of more than 155,000 Brazilians. In its formula, the immunizer is composed of inactivated coronavirus fragments (when the virus is “dead”) and complete immunization is carried out in two doses, according to preliminary research.

In addition to being a partner in the development of the vaccine, Butantan has an agreement to transfer technology and purchase 46 million doses of the immunizing agent for vaccination. Even on Thursday (22), the institute presented the label of this possible vaccine against COVID-19. If the immunizer reaches the necessary levels of efficacy and safety in this last stage, the researchers will be able to send the data obtained for evaluation by Anvisa, the body responsible for authorizing its use, and start vaccination campaigns against the coronavirus.

Source: Agência Brasil and Government of SP