BRASILIA, Sept. 10 (Xinhua) -- The Brazilian government has created an inter-ministerial working group to coordinate the procurement and distribution of vaccines against the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), according to an announcement published in the government's Official Gazette on Thursday.
Under the coordination of the Ministry of Health, the group will collaborate in the planning of a national strategy for voluntary immunization against the novel coronavirus.
The group will be made up of members from a number of different government ministries and departments, including the Ministry of Health, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Economy, Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation, General Comptroller's Office, and Ministry of Women, Family and Human Rights.
Thus far, four studies on vaccines against the novel coronavirus have been authorized by the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (Anvisa).
In June, the agency authorized clinical trials of a vaccine developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford.
Similarly, on July 3, a vaccine being developed by Sinovac Biotech (China), in association with the Butantan Institute was authorized to begin trials; on July 21, a vaccine from BioNTech (Germany) and Wyeth-Pfizer (the United States) was authorized; and last month, a vaccine from Janssen-Cilag and Johnson & Johnson's pharmaceutical unit was authorized.
AstraZeneca temporarily suspended global testing of its vaccine this week after one of the volunteers in the UK showed adverse symptoms.