Brazil’s health regulator, Anvisa, said Chinese health authorities had been “opaque” in approving emergency use of COVID-19 vaccines.
Sinovac shows off its vaccine against the Communist Party of China virus in Beijing. (24 September 2020)
Anvisa said in a statement On Monday: “Since June of this year, Kelsupple has been granted emergency use authorization in China. China’s criteria for granting emergency use authorizations are not transparent, and information about the criteria on which China’s decisions are based is not available.”
The inactivated vaccine, developed by Sinovac, has been being tested by Brazil’s Butantan Institute, a research centre backed by the Sao Paulo state government.
Joao Doria, the governor of The Brazilian state of Sao Paulo, said the results of the phase III trial would be released on Dec. 23 and he hoped his state would start vaccinating the vaccine on Jan. 25.
Brazil’s President Bolsonaro, who has been critical of the Chinese Communist Party, has repeatedly expressed doubts about the vaccine, saying its “origin” makes it untrustworthy, Reuters reported.
China has not yet made public details of how it will determine whether a COVID-19 vaccine meets emergency conditions, the report said. China’s National Health Commission also didn’t respond to requests for comment.
The report also said a Sinovac representative declined to comment but referred to a news conference in October. Zheng Zhongwei, director of the National Health Commission’s Science and Technology Development Center, said at the meeting: “The launch of the emergency vaccine has gone through a series of rigorous tests and reviews, and it has also met the who rules.”
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