Brazil’s Ministry of Health decides to cancel Sputnik V vaccine purchase contract

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – As should be the case with Covaxin, the Ministry of Health will terminate the contract for the purchase of 10 million doses of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. The announcement is pending only the completion of the required legal analysis.

The government intends to argue that the immunizer failed to be approved by the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency (ANVISA), one of the contract’s demands, which had União Química as intermediary.

On June 4, ANVISA authorized the exceptional import of a reduced amount of vaccine doses. This occurred due to the lack of information guaranteeing the Sputnik V’s safety and efficacy.

In addition to the low volume, corresponding to a maximum of 1% of the population, the vaccine could only be administered after approval of each batch by the National Institute for Quality Control in Health (INCQS).

The first administrations would also need to be closely monitored in order to observe adverse effects. Only young people and people with no comorbidities would be eligible for immunization.

In addition to all these obstacles, the current scenario is more comfortable in terms of vaccine supply. The Ministry expects the delivery of about 80 million doses in August alone, and intends to complete the vaccination of all people over 18 by November.

As a result, it decided that proceeding with the Sputnik and Covaxin vaccines, the latter involved in corruption allegations, was no longer reasonable. In the case of the Russian vaccine, there is still a contract of 37 million doses with the Northeast governors consortium.

Last Monday, July 19, the consortium urged Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga to include the Sputnik V in the National Immunization Plan. However, Queiroga signaled that he does not intend to grant the request.

Responsible for the vaccine in Brazil, the Russian Sovereign Wealth Fund and União Química have not yet commented.

Source: Valor