In Brazil, they announced the suspension of deliveries of "Sputnik V"

The Brazilian authorities refused to include "Sputnik V" in the national immunization plan, saying that the ordered volume of other vaccines would be sufficient. In total, it was planned to deliver 37 million doses of the Russian drug to the country, reports informs rbc.ru.

The northeastern states of Brazil have rejected plans to import the Russian Sputnik V vaccine against the coronavirus. This was stated by the governor of the state of Piaua, Wellington Diaz, after a meeting with representatives of the RDIF, the G1 portal reports.

The refusal of supplies is due to the restrictions established by the Brazilian health regulator Anvisa, as well as the refusal to use the drug as part of the national immunization plan and the lack of an import permit, Diaz explained.

"Unfortunately, Brazil lives in conditions of high mortality, more than a thousand deaths per day. We have vaccines, but their import is prohibited due to Anvisa's decision. <...> We have suspended the import of the vaccine until a permit for use is obtained," Diaz said.

The first batch of the Russian vaccine was supposed to arrive in Brazil on July 28, The Rio Times reported with reference to the consortium. The Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) announced at a meeting with representatives of Brazil that these doses will be delivered to Mexico, Argentina and Bolivia. However, if Brazil changes its decision, the drug will be available for immediate delivery, the fund added.

Brazil's Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, announced in mid-July that Brazil would refuse to supply Sputnik V. Then he explained that the volume of vaccines for which the authorities have already concluded contracts will be sufficient for the vaccination of the entire population over 18 years old by the end of this year. Because of this, the Russian vaccine was not included in the national immunization plan.

The Brazilian regulator allowed the state authorities to independently decide on the import of "Sputnik V", but on the condition of testing the drug and monitoring the status of the vaccinated.

A total of 16 Brazilian states requested permission to import Sputnik V, but only four agreed to use the vaccine subject to Anvisa conditions. The RDIF signed an import agreement with the Brazilian pharmaceutical company Uniao Quimica, which also planned to launch local production of the drug for export to neighboring countries. However, the execution of the contract required the permission of the regulator for the emergency use of the vaccine, which he ultimately did not issue. As reported in Anvisa, the authorization process was delayed because the pharmaceutical company did not provide the necessary data about the vaccine.

RDIF announced in June that Anvisa had approved a license to import and use Sputnik V in several Brazilian states. "The permit for the import and use of the vaccine by the Brazilian states was adopted after consideration of the technical report sent to Anvisa by the Ministry of Health of Russia. "In addition, the Russian side previously provided the regulator with additional data confirming the absence of replicating adenovirus vectors (RCA)," the fund said in a statement.

The RDIF has repeatedly declared the safety of the Sputnik V vaccine. The foundation believes that a "disinformation campaign" is being waged against the drug with the goal of "preventing Russian and similar vaccines from entering European and other markets."