RIO DE JANEIRO (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 27th March, 2021) Brazil has unveiled two indigenous COVID-19 vaccine candidates in one day amid a record rise in daily infections and deaths.
First, Sao Paulo's Butantan Institute announced on Friday that it would seek approval for its first homegrown vaccine, Butanvac, with a view to beginning inoculations in July.
Separately, national regulator Anvisa said that it had received a request to start phase 1 and phase 2 trials of a vaccine dubbed Versamune. The vaccine was developed by the University of Sao Paulo Ribeirao Preto in conjunction with Brazilian company Farmacore and the United States' PDS Biotechnology.
The announcement comes as the country hit daily all-time highs of 3,650 deaths and 100,158 infections this week. Brazil is now second only to the US in terms of coronavirus cases and fatalities, with a total of over 12.4 million registered infections and over 307,000 confirmed coronavirus-related deaths.
