The Brace Trial completed its first year and an online event, last Thursday (April 15th), celebrated the results obtained so far. The meeting brought together members of the teams from the five countries involved in the initiative: Australia, Brazil, Spain, the Netherlands, and the United Kingdom, including the leading researcher of the study in our country, Margareth Dalcolmo. The pulmonologist, along with Julio Croda, also a researcher at the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (Fiocruz), emphasized in her speech the importance of the study and the moment that Brazil faces in the Covid-19 pandemic.
The challenge to integrate teams from the five countries, on three different continents, was remembered during the event, which was a great celebration of science and its contribution to humanity. “It is a great satisfaction for Fiotec to be able to contribute to the progress of the research through the support provided and to be able to follow the work of researchers so present in this pandemic moment, such as Dr. Margareth Dalcolmo and Dr. Julio Croda”, comments Fiotec's International Projects analyst, Aline Rafaela, who, along with colleagues Camilla Portugal and Rafaela Delduque, represented the institution at the event.
The global initiative evaluates whether vaccination or revaccination with BCG (Bacillus Calmette-Guérin), used to prevent severe forms of childhood tuberculosis, can reduce the impact of Covid-19 on healthcare workers, the population most exposed to the coronavirus.
In addition to the routine contribution to the project monitoring, Fiotec professionals participated directly in the study as volunteers. The goal is to vaccinate 10,000 people in the five countries involved. “Today, here at Fiotec, we have three ongoing projects that together constitute the Brace Trial Brasil (BTB). This, in itself, already generates a more complex work, in addition to being the first agreements executed by the institution with the Murdoch Children's Research Institute”, reveals Aline, explaining that the relationship with an unprecedented funder requires even more attention and discipline of the team involved in the study.
