Brazil said Monday that it had halted a late-stage trial of a Chinese vaccine that had been considered a global front-runner in the race to develop a protective shot for the coronavirus, after a "serious adverse” reaction in a participant.
The Brazilian health regulator provided little information on its decision, including whether the reaction was related to the vaccine, called CoronaVac and produced by the Chinese company Sinovac, or coincidental.
The suspension provoked a political outcry as critics of President Jair Bolsonaro accused the federal government of putting lives in peril by politicizing a vaccine trial. The Brazilian institute assisting with the CoronaVac trial is run by the state of Sao Paulo, which is led by Gov. Joao Doria, a political rival of Bolsonaro.