Sao Paulo starts building production plant for China's Sinovac vaccine: governor

Brazil's Sao Paulo state governor Joao Doria and director of Instituto Butantan Dimas Tadeu Covas hold a box of the China's Sinovac, a potential vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), during a news conference at Instituto Butantan in Sao Paulo, Brazil November 9, 2020. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

The Brazilian state of São Paulo has begun building a facility to produce 100 million doses a year of China's Sinovac vaccine against COVID-19, which will be ready by September next year, Governor João Doria said on Monday.

Sao Paulo is also importing the vaccine before the facility is ready and Doria said the first batch of 120,000 imported Sinovac vaccines will arrive on Nov. 20 with the state's Butantan biomedical center receiving a total of 6 million doses by year-end.

The vaccine production facility will cost 142 million reais ($26.5 million), which will be donated by private companies.

Brazil's Sao Paulo state governor Joao Doria greets director of Instituto Butantan Dimas Tadeu Covas after a news conference about China's Sinovac, a potential vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), at Instituto Butantan in Sao Paulo, Brazil November 9, 2020. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

The Butantan Institute will soon publish results from clinical Phase III tests it has conducted in Brazil to demonstrate the safety and efficacy of Sinovac's vaccine, Sao Paulo Health Secretary Jean Gorinchteyn said.

He said previous studies have established the safety of the vaccine known as CoronaVac and shown it produces antibodies in almost 98% of the volunteers that received the shots.

Doria said the vaccine will only be used once it has been approved by Brazil's health regulator, Anvisa.

A box of China's Sinovac, a potential vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), is held during a news conference at Instituto Butantan in Sao Paulo, Brazil November 9, 2020. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

(Reporting by Eduardo Simoes and Anthony Boadle in Sao Paulo; Editing by Stephen Eisenhammer and Matthew Lewis)

A man walks in the middle of a construction site where China's Sinovac, a potential vaccine against the coronavirus disease (COVID-19), will be produced, at Instituto Butantan in Sao Paulo, Brazil November 9, 2020. REUTERS/Amanda Perobelli

FILE PHOTO: A booth displaying a coronavirus vaccine candidate from Sinovac Biotech Ltd is seen at the 2020 China International Fair for Trade in Services (CIFTIS), following the COVID-19 outbreak, in Beijing, China September 5, 2020. REUTERS/Tingshu Wang