89% Brazilians eager to get Covid-19 vaccine: Survey

Brasilia, Aug 17 (IANS) Some 89 per cent Brazilians intend to get vaccinated against the novel coronavirus as soon as a vaccine is available, according to a new survey.

The survey by polling firm Datafolha and published on Sunday by regional daily Folha de Sao Paulo, showed that 9 per cent of the respondents would refuse to get vaccinated and another 3 per cent were undecided, reports Xinhua news agency.

Of those surveyed, 46 per cent expect the vaccine to be ready by the first half of 2021 and 22 per cent want its availability by the end of next year.

Twenty-five per cent expressed more optimism, saying a vaccine will be ready in 2020, according to the survey conducted on Aug. 11-12.

Trials of two vaccines under development are currently in their third and final stages of testing in Brazil.

One is being developed by Oxford University in conjunction with pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca through an agreement with Brazil’s Ministry of Health and the Federal University of Sao Paulo.

While the second one is being developed by Chinese company Sinovac Biotech and tested in Brazil by the Butantan Institute, a vaccine maker and laboratory.

Brazil currently accounts for the second highest number of coronavirus cases and deaths, just after the US.

As of Monday, the total number of cases in the country stood at 3,340,197, while the death toll increased to 107,852.

It is also the country with the maximum amount of infections and fatalities in Latin America.

Sao Paulo, the most populated state in the country and the epicentre of the pandemic, has registered over 699,000 confirmed cases and 26,852 deaths, followed by Bahia, Ceara and Rio de Janeiro.

–IANS

ksk/