On Monday, the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech SE announced its experimental COVID-19 vaccine was more than 90% effective based on trial results.

Pfizer said it had found no unexpected health concerns  and expected to apply for U.S. emergency use as soon as possible. The vaccine has been tested on more than 43,500 participants since July.

The head of the European Commission says the EU would like to buy up to 300 million doses of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by Pfizer and BioNTech.

Meanwhile, South Africa launched the country’s third COVID-19 vaccine trial, which tests whether an experimental vaccine can protect people without developing serious symptoms.

On Tuesday, Brazil suspended the trial of a Chinese COVID-19 vaccine due to a “serious adverse event” involving a volunteer.

The Chinese Foreign Ministry said Brazil’s halting of the clinic trial of the Sinovac COVID-19 vaccine was unrelated to the vaccine and noted that Sinovac will continue to communicate with Brazil on this matter.

Chinese bio-tech company Sinovac began a Phase 3 trial in Brazil in July.

Researchers around the world are racing to find a vaccine for COVID-19. So far, there are about 200 COVID-19 vaccines in development.

According to the New York Times, in addition to Pfizer and BioNTech, there are currently 10 other vaccines in final stage trials worldwide.

Vaccines usually require years of research and testing. The New York Times also reports researchers are testing 52 vaccines in clinical trials on humans and at least 87 preclinical vaccines on animals.

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