SAO PAULO (Reuters) – China National Pharmaceutical Group Co Ltd (Sinopharm) has applied for emergency use authorization for its COVID-19 vaccine in Brazil, the Brazilian health agency Anvisa said in a statement on Monday.
Brazil already uses another Chinese COVID-19 vaccine, Sinovac Biotech’s Coronavac, which is the vaccine most administered in the South American nation.
Sinopharm’s vaccine is made from an inactivated virus, Anvisa said, and is recommended for people over age 18. The agency added that it is applied in two doses, with an interval of three to four weeks between them, citing information provided by the manufacturer.
The agency said that it will review over the next day whether the documentation submitted by Sinopharm is complete and that it may request additional information to process the emergency-use application.
(Reporting by Anthony Boadle; Writing by Ana Mano; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Will Dunham)
