WHO calls for Brazil to better coordinate efforts against coronavirus
SAO PAULO/GENEVA, (Reuters) – Brazil still faces a “big challenge” to curb the coronavirus pandemic and should do more to integrate its efforts at different levels of government, a top World Health Organization official said yesterday.
“We would encourage once more that Brazil continues to fight against the disease, that Brazil links the efforts at federal and at state level in a much more systematic way,” said Michael Ryan, head of the WHO emergencies programme.
Earlier yesterday, governor of Brazil’s most populous state, Joao Doria said he expected this week to receive federal regulatory approval to start trials of a potential coronavirus vaccine developed by China’s Sinovac in Sao Paulo.
His statement comes as Brazil’s federal government announced over the weekend that it had signed an agreement to produce another potential vaccine, developed by pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca with researchers at Oxford University.
Doria said Sao Paulo is not trying to compete with the federal government by testing the Chinese vaccine.
