AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine applies for full regulatory approval in Brazil

FILE PHOTO: A test tube labelled "vaccine" in front of an AstraZeneca logo in this illustration taken, September 9, 2020. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration/File Photo

RIO DE JANEIRO (Reuters) - Brazilian health regulator Anvisa said on Friday that a COVID-19 vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca Plc had applied for full regulatory approval, in a positive development for the country's beleaguered vaccine rollout.

The submission, the first of its kind in Brazil, was made by the federally funded Fiocruz Institute, which will manufacture the British vaccine locally. A spokeswoman for AstraZeneca, whose vaccine is already approved for emergency use in Brazil, confirmed the submission.