Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) has rejected a request from Brazilian states to import the Russian corona vaccine Sputnik-V.
The health watchdog says it does not have the technical data necessary to assess whether the drug is safe and effective.
“We will never allow millions of Brazilians to be exposed to products without proper verification of quality, safety and efficacy,” said Antonio Barra Torres, president of Anvisa, following an expert recommendation, noting that there were ‘uncertainties’. are about the drug, which is still not approved by the health authorities of the European Union and the United States.
The Russian investment fund behind the vaccine speaks of possible political action and says Anvisa’s statements are incorrect. The official Sputnik-V Twitter account writes that all necessary data has been shared with Anvisa, “more than what was needed to approve Sputnik-V in 61 countries.”
The account also states that the Brazilian decision is political in nature and has nothing to do with access to information or science. Reference is made to the role the United States would have played in this.
In Brazil, more than 14.3 million inhabitants have been infected since the outbreak of the coronavirus. At least 390,000 of them did not survive. Infections and deaths started to increase exponentially from January, mainly due to the spread of the more contagious Amazon variant of the virus. The country has vaccinated more than 5.8 percent of its population so far.