By Ryan Dube

LIMA, Peru -- Peru's Health Ministry said Saturday it has suspended a trial for a Chinese Covid-19 vaccine after a participant presented health problems.

The Healthy Ministry said a trial with 12,000 volunteers for China's Sinopharm vaccine has been temporarily put on hold as it investigates whether the vaccine caused what it described as a "serious adverse event" in one of the participants. The trial was expected to finish in the coming days.

Germán Málaga, a health researcher at the Cayetano Heredia University in Lima, where the trial is taking place, said a volunteer presented neurological problems, resulting in difficulty moving his legs. Dr. Málaga told radio station RPP Noticias that he didn't believe the health problem was due to the vaccine, but more information was needed.

"We are concerned about the situation, and we are providing all of our help and support to ensure that it is cleared up," he said.

The United Arab Emirates said this week that its own trial for the Sinopharm vaccine had shown that it was 86% effective in protecting people from Covid-19.

The U.A.E.'s trial included 31,000 people. The analysis of its effectiveness against Covid-19 was based on a strain of the vaccine developed in Beijing. Another strain has been developed in Wuhan.

In Peru, it isn't clear which Sinopharm strain was used in the country's trial. A spokesman for the Health Ministry didn't respond to requests for comment.

Peru has confirmed more than 36,500 deaths from Covid-19, giving it one of the highest per capita mortality rates in the world.

The country of 32 million people has signed a deal with Pfizer Inc. to receive some 9.9 million doses of its Covid-19 vaccine. Government officials here hope the first batch of that vaccine will be delivered around March or April.

Peru also has signed an agreement to receive vaccines from a World Health Organization-backed initiative, called Covax. That program aims to distribute some 2 billion vaccines to poorer countries by the end of 2021.

Write to Ryan Dube at ryan.dube@dowjones.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

12-12-20 1620ET