At 35, the Brazilian neuropediatrician Stella Pinto dos Santos is among the 2,000 volunteers in Rio de Janeiro, of which 61% have already had the vaccine produced in Oxford. In his experience as a guinea pig for Science he suffered from the side effects of the vaccine and started to live with fear
Stella’s profile fit perfectly with the prerequisites listed in a Whatsapp message spread by pediatric colleagues at the end of June: health professional on the front line of Covid-19, between 18 and 55 years old, never caught the virus.
The idea of helping the world to cure the pandemic attracted her, as did the possibility of being immunized soon against the disease. Therefore, the decision to enroll in the ranks of volunteers who would help to test the vaccine made by the University of Oxford and the laboratory AstraZeneca was easy.
The product is the most advanced so far in the race for the long-awaited immunization, according to the World Health Organization. The high rates of infection and Brazil’s expertise in the area have generated the interest of researchers – as well as of the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac, which also has already started testing around here.
Read more in Folha de S.Paulo
