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SAO PAULO: Brazil’s health regulator Anvisa said on Monday (December 14) that China’s health authorities are not transparent when it comes to authorizing the emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines, a statement that may further inflame political tension in the South American country.
Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro, a constant critic of China, has repeatedly cast doubt on the CoronaVac vaccine being developed by China’s Sinovac, saying its “origin” makes it unreliable.
In Sao Paulo, Brazil’s most populous state, authorities have bet heavily on the vaccine, and Governor Joao Doria, an enemy of Bolsonaro, said the state hoped to begin vaccinating its residents in January.
However, Sao Paulo will not be able to start using the Sinovac vaccine until it is approved by Anvisa. While the health regulator has long been largely apolitical, Bolsonaro has been appointing allies for him in recent months, stoking fears among health professionals that his decisions may be affected by political considerations.
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“Brazil is the international leader in the CoronaVac evaluation process,” Anvisa said in a statement on its website.
“The vaccine has had an emergency use authorization in China since June this year. The Chinese criteria for granting emergency use authorization are not transparent and there is no information available on the criteria currently in use by the Chinese authorities to take these. decisions “.
At least tens of thousands of people have taken the Sinovac vaccine in China’s emergency use program, officially launched in July, which targets limited groups of high-risk people. Included in the program are two candidates developed by state-backed Sinopharm units.
China has not released the details of how it determines whether a new coronavirus vaccine is qualified for emergency use. His National Health Commission did not respond to a request for comment.
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A representative for Sinovac declined to comment, but referred to a press conference in October in which a health official said the emergency inoculation was started after rigorous reviews and was in accordance with China’s laws and regulations. of the World Health Organization.
These vaccines showed “very good safety and immunogenicity readings in phase 1 and phase 2 clinical trials,” the official said.
CoronaVac is undergoing phase 3 testing in Sao Paulo.
Doria said on Monday that efficacy data would be released on December 23, eight days later than initially planned, to allow for a larger sample size and more comprehensive analysis.
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