Brazil approves two COVID vaccines for emergency use

Brazil’s health regulator has granted emergency approval to two COVID-19 vaccines as the country gears up for a mass inoculation campaign during a devastating second wave of the pandemic, Report states, citing RIA Novosti.

The Anvisa regulator on Sunday approved vaccines from China’s Sinovac Biotech and Britain’s AstraZeneca for emergency use in Brazil, which has recorded more than 209,000 deaths linked to the novel coronavirus since the start of the crisis.

Anvisa’s board of directors voted unanimously to approve both vaccines after almost five hours of deliberations.

Minutes after the vote, Monica Calazans, a 54-year-old nurse in Sao Paulo, became the first person to be inoculated in Brazil, receiving the Chinese vaccine known as CoronaVac.

According to Johns Hopkins University, Brazil has recorded more than 8.45 million cases of COVID-19 to date, the third-highest tally in the world after the United States and India.