Today we’re covering Brazil’s latest involvement in promising Covid-19 vaccine trials. The return of shopping malls and fears of spreading the virus. São Paulo guards its most (in)famous statue from attack.
São Paulo teams up with Chinese lab in vaccine tests
São Paulo Governor João Doria announced on Thursday that the state’s Butantan Biological Institute is teaming up with Sinovac Biotech, a privately held Beijing-based lab, to produce a Covid-19 vaccine. Mr. Doria claims the vaccine has entered its “final stage of testing” and that it could be available by June 2021. Roughly 9,000 volunteers are expected to join the trials.
- This is the second vaccine project to be tested in the state of São Paulo. The other project, led by Oxford University and drugmaker AstraZeneca, will carry out tests on 2,000 Brazilian volunteers — all of whom come from the ranks of health workers.
Why it matters. Taking part in studies could mean Brazil will be one of the first countries to get the vaccine if it proves to be effective.
- At this point, with states reopening before the coronavirus spread is controlled, Brazil sees itself in need of a scientific breakthrough to avoid a humanitarian crisis. The country...