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The Americas

Brazil, ravaged by the

coronavirus, becomes
key testing ground for
vaccine

The Federal University of São Paulo building where the

trials of the Oxford coronavirus vaccine are being
conducted. (Amanda Perobelli/Reuters)

By Terrence McCoy

July 2, 2020 at 4:00 a.m. PDT

RIO DE JANEIRO — Brazil's virtually

unchecked coronavirus outbreak, second
worst in the world and growing, is making
the country an attractive proving ground
for researchers racing to find a vaccine.

A vaccine developed at Oxford University,

said by the World Health Organization to
be the furthest along of several candidates
worldwide, is now being tested on 5,000
volunteers in Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo
and an undisclosed site in northeastern
Brazil. The Chinese firm Sinovac Biotech
will soon begin trials on a separate vaccine
in partnership with a Brazilian research
institute, and Italian researchers will
probably follow with a third. Other
immunological firms are also signaling
interest in Brazil.

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[Brazil ignored the warnings. Now, while

other countries fret over a second
coronavirus wave, it can’t get past its
first.]

Latin America’s largest country has

reported more than 1.4 million cases and
60,000 dead, second in both only to the
United States, in an outbreak that has
leaped from the coastal cities to the
country’s vast interior.

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The trials have been closely followed by

national news here. Brazilians generally
are celebrating the opportunity to
contribute to the global search for a
vaccine — and looking to capitalize on a
potential winner — rather than griping at
being used as international guinea pigs.

The Oxford vaccine is based on a weak

and non-replicating strain of the common
cold. Preliminary results in the trials are
due as soon as October.

A protester installs a cross in front of the National

Congress in Brasília on Sunday during a demonstration to
honor victims of the coronavirus. (Andressa
Anholete/Getty Images)

Brazilian scientists say the country’s

scientific infrastructure and strong record
on inoculations also make the country
attractive.

“This normally takes at least a decade, and

we are trying to do this in a year,” said
Marco Krieger, vice president for
innovation and research at the Oswaldo
Cruz Foundation, a research institute in
Rio. “This is a global effort, and without
doubt Brazil will be contributing to that
effort.”

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All of the trials to be conducted in Brazil

are in Phase 3 of development, having
been tested already on animals and on
smaller groups of people. Phase 3 is when
tests are performed on larger groups.

[While other countries look to open up,

Brazil can’t find a way to shut down]

The Brazilian government is in talks with

AstraZeneca to produce millions of doses
of the Oxford vaccine. It has enlisted the
Oswaldo Cruz Foundation in the effort.
There’s no guarantee the vaccine will be
effective and safe, but if it is, Brazil will
have an immediate stockpile to begin
inoculating front-line health professionals
and vulnerable groups.

“Our first goal is that we have access,”

interim health minister Eduardo Pazuello
said. “It’s so we can participate and are
free to make the vaccine, not just buy it.
In Latin America, only Brazil has this
capacity.”

A health worker performs a coronavirus test on a

photographer before a soccer match between Botafogo
and Cabofriense on Sunday in Rio de Janeiro. (Buda
Mendes/Getty Images)

Brazil’s eager participation in the vaccine

trials could be seen as being at odds with
how it has otherwise handled the
pandemic. President Jair Bolsonaro has
called for a national policy of doing
nothing. The right-wing populist has
repeatedly dismissed the danger of the
coronavirus and has had little to say to or
about its victims. Last week, he called
Brazil’s response, one of the loosest in the
world, “a little bit exaggerated.”

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The inaction has placed Brazil on a path

few countries have traveled. Each day
brings tens of thousands of new
diagnoses. The virus is reaching deeper
into remote regions, where hospitals are
ill-equipped to handle the deluge of
patients.

[As coronavirus kills indigenous people in

the Amazon, Brazil’s government goes
missing]

“The vaccine will be the key,” said Lily Yin

Weckx, a Brazilian epidemiologist helping
to lead the Oxford study. “If you can’t
treat the disease, what you have to do is
prevent it, like many other diseases have
been controlled by vaccines.”

Dozens of vaccines are in development

around the world. Weckx said each could
end up being useful. Some might be more
effective in specific populations, such as
older people. Others could last for longer
or shorter periods of time. It’s important,
she said, to pursue them all.

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“Likely we are going to have many

approved vaccines, and all of them are
going to be useful in prevention,” she said.

Limits on coronavirus testing in Brazil are

hiding the true dimensions of Latin
America’s largest outbreak

In Brazil, a desperate search for an open

bed

Brazil’s Bolsonaro, channeling Trump,

dismisses coronavirus measures — it’s just
‘a little cold’

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