Brazil is one of the countries in which China is testing its vaccine
Credit: REUTERS
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Brazil’s health regulator said on Monday it had suspended clinical trials for China’s coronavirus vaccine after a participant died.
Sao Paulo’s medical research institute Butantan, which is conducting the Sinovac trials in Brazil, insisted the death was not linked to the vaccine and said it "was surprised" by the decision.
The head of Butantan, Dimas Covas, speaking to local broadcaster TV Cultura, said the decision was related to a death but said he found the regulator announcement strange "because it’s a death unrelated to the vaccine".
"As there are more than 10,000 volunteers at this moment, deaths can occur… It’s a death that has no relation with the vaccine and as such it is not the moment to interrupt the trials," Mr Covas said.
The health regulator, Anvisa, did not specify whether the incident took place in Brazil – where trials are being conducted – or in another country.
The decision to hold the trial in Sao Paulo sparked protests
Credit: REUTERS
It also did not say why news of the incident, which happened on October 29, was being communicated only now.
Sinovac did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
No other country conducting trials of Sinovac’s experimental vaccine has announced a suspension. Late-stage trials are also being conducted in Indonesia and Turkey.
Sinovac’s vaccine is among the three experimental Covid-19 vaccines that China has been using to inoculate hundreds of thousands of people under an emergency use programme.
A Chinese health official said on October 20 that serious side effects have not been observed in clinical trials.
Sinovac said in September that its vaccine is nearly ready and will be rolled-out across the world early next year.
It is is one of four Chinese vaccines in last-stage human trials, a higher number than any other nation in the world.
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