(Yicai Global) Dec. 25 -- Brazil has become the first country in the world to complete final stage clinical trials of a novel coronavirus vaccine developed by Chinese vaccine maker Sinovac Biotech and has found it to be safe and effective, CCTV News reported today, citing the Sao Paulo state government and researchers at one of the country’s foremost scientific research institutes.

Over 20,000 doses of the vaccine were administered to volunteers and the results show that the CoronaVac is the world’s safest coronavirus vaccine so far with only a few side effects that are rarely seen, Dimas Covas, director of the Butantan Institute, said on Dec. 23.

The vaccine has been proven to have a higher efficacy than the World Health Organization’s efficacy threshold, which stands at 50 percent, he added. The Sao Paulo-based institute will now apply to the country’s health authority ANVISA for full approval of the vaccine.

Full results should be released in the next two weeks after Beijing-based SinoVac has consolidated the data with other Phase III trials ongoing in other parts of the world, including Indonesia, Turkey and Chile, Covas said.

Sao Paulo, the country’s wealthiest and most populous state, is forging ahead with its mass inoculation program ahead of the rest of the country, which is still deliberating which vaccine to use. The region is planning to start mandatory immunization on Jan. 25, said Jean Gorinchteyn, director of the Sao Paulo Health Department.

Some 5.5 million doses of the CoronaVac jab arrived in Sao Paulo from China yesterday. Another two million doses are scheduled to arrive next week.

Brazil has the world’s second-highest Covid-19 death toll after the US with over 190,000 mortalities as of today.

Editor: Kim Taylor