Brazil, University of Texas reach deal on Zika vaccine

BRASILIA, Brazil — Brazil has signed an agreement with the University of Texas to develop a vaccine against the Zika virus, adding the goal is for the vaccine to be ready for clinical testing within 12 months.

Brazil’s Zika outbreak has become a public health crisis since researchers in the country linked the mosquito-borne virus to a surge in a rare birth defect compromising infants’ brains.

The connection has yet to be scientifically proven, but the CDC has pointed to strong evidence of a link between the two and called on pregnant women to avoid travel to 22 countries and territories in the Americas with active outbreaks.