Officials in Brazil say another vaccine from China works

Brazilian officials said Thursday that a coronavirus vaccine made by a Chinese company was effective, bolstering the chances of approval for a second Chinese inoculation that could be rolled out in much of the developing world.

Officials in the state of São Paulo, where a prominent medical research institute carried out a large study of the vaccine made by Beijing-based Sinovac, said the inoculation had an efficacy rate of 78 percent.

The vaccine prevented all participants from developing serious and mild complications from the virus, officials said, calling it a highly effective preventive tool.

In anticipation of approval, the vaccine, called Coronavac, has already been shipped around the world as countries prepare for mass inoculation campaigns. Sinovac has sold more than 300million doses, mostly to low- and middle-income countries, accounting for about half the total doses that China says vaccinemakers were capable of producing in 2020, based on an analysis of company statements and media reports.

China has set its sights on supplying the developing world with a COVID-19 vaccine, in a push to position itself as a leader in health diplomacy after its failures in the early days of the outbreak. It also wants to burnish its credentials in science by becoming a major player in the global vaccine business.

China is filling a void in poorer nations left by Western competitors. THE U.S. is mainly focused on distributing its vaccines at home.

In recent months, Chinese companies have signed agreements with at least 15 countries and regions. Many of their early customers were the governments that cooperated on late-stage trials. Brazil has roughly 10.8 million doses of the vaccine on hand and intends to start producing it locally, and Indonesia and Turkey have received shipments of Sinovac vaccines.

Sinovac has said it is able to produce 600 million doses this year.