Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency, Anvisa, said it turned down a request by the Brazilian Butantan Institute for approval of Chinese CoronaVac to vaccinate children aged between 3 and 17.

Anvisa stated on Wednesday that the request was not approved due to a lack of sufficient data.

The Instituto Butantan biologic research center is producing CoronaVac.

“Vaccination of children and teenagers with CoronaVac vaccine is not approved. It was impossible to prove the vaccine’s efficacy and safety for this age group, based on information by the Butantan Institute.

“Data on immunogenicity leave unclear the duration of protection provided by the immunizing agent,” said Anvisa.

FG seeks Germany’s support on building vaccine hub –minister

The agency also noted that there was no conclusion on side effects or vaccine efficacy among children with associated diseases, chiefly due to the insufficient number of tests participants.

Only Pfizer/BioNTech vaccine has so far been approved by Anvisa for vaccinating people over 12 years old in Brazil.

However, the Janssen laboratory has received a permit to conduct experiments with children under 18 in the Latin American country.