Brazil's Fiocruz to Seek Regulatory Approval for Oxford/AstraZeneca Vaccine

Brazil's Fiocruz biomedical institute will seek regulatory approval for the Oxford University/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine on January 15.

The vaccine will go through screening from Brazil's federal health regulator Anvisa, one of the center's officials told Reuters.

The AstraZeneca vaccine is Brazil's best bet to get protection against the second deadliest coronavirus outbreak, after the United States.

Its lineup for approval gives a picture of how soon vaccine approval could get, especially since the country has been blasted for falling behind other countries in Latin America.

Al Jazeera said in a report that the Rio de Janeiro-based institute has been licensed to receive AstraZeneca supplies, after which they can eventually start local production of the COVID-19 vaccine.

Brazil to Get 100 Million Vaccine Doses in First Half of 2021

The federal government of Brazil expects to receive 100 million doses during the first half of 2021 as part of their AstraZeneca order.

Marco Krieger, vice president of health production and innovation at Fiocruz institute also confirmed that January 15 milestone with Reuters.

AstraZeneca was first seen as a frontrunner in the development of the COVID-19 vaccine. But it has since been overtaken by drugmaker Pfizer and its parter BioNTech, whose shots have already been distributed to the U.S. and Britain.

In its submission of data to regulators last week, AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said he thinks their new data would show 95% efficacy at preventing COVID-19 infections-as high as the efficacy rates for Pfizer and BioNTech's vaccine, reported Business Insider.

"We think we have figured out the winning formula and how to get efficacy that, after two doses, is up there with everybody else," he told The Sunday Times.

Soriot said the company would publish their data at "some point."

Confusion Rises Over AstraZeneca Vaccine Dosage

In the British team's Phase 3 trial data, it as shown that the vaccine was only 62% effective for trial participants given two full doses.

On the other hand, it was 90% effective for those given first a half, then a full dose.

Despite the confusion, Krieger said Fiocruz would ask for approval for the two-dose regimen since it as more widely tested, including in Brazil.

Fiocruz was also seeking full approval instead of emergency use approval from Anvisa.

Pfizer said the emergency use application in Brazil was a difficult task.

Fiocruz said they will start finishing a million doses per week in the month of January and increase production to three million doses weekly by February.

Vaccine to be Available 5 Days After Approval

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro said the COVID-19 vaccine will be made available for Brazilians five days after it has been approved.

Bolsonaro has been known as a coronavirus skeptic, noted Reuters.

Over the weekend, he said he wasn't worried about the criticism he'll get over the vaccine rollout in Brazil, adding that there was not pressure for him for anything.

"I don't give a damn about it," he said. He also actively said he won't take the COVID-19 vaccine even though he contracted the virus back in July.

There were nearly 7.5 million coronavirus cases confirmed in Brazil with ver 190,000 deaths since the outbreak began.