Brazil to allow emergency use of Covid-19 vaccines tested abroad, buy 30m doses from India and Russia
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox
At present, only the shots developed by AstraZeneca and Sinovac Biotech are approved for emergency use in Brazil.
PHOTO: REUTERS
Follow topic:
BRASILIA (REUTERS, AFP) - Brazilian health regulator Anvisa said on Wednesday (Feb 3) it would alter the requirements around emergency use authorisations of Covid-19 vaccines to allow for the approval of vaccines tested outside the country.
In a news conference, Anvisa officials said a separate process would be created for vaccine developers that only conducted mass clinical trials outside Brazil. Previously, only vaccines that did Phase III testing in Brazil were eligible for emergency use authorisation.
The regulator said the move should help to increase the supply of vaccines in the country. At present, only the shots developed by AstraZeneca and China's Sinovac Biotech are approved for emergency use in Brazil.
Anvisa also said the timeline for approvals would differ, with a decision for vaccines tested in Brazil made within 10 days compared to 30 days for those tested abroad.
The regulator has been widely criticised for being slow to approve vaccines, as the start of inoculations in Brazil lagged neighbors.
Earlier on Wednesday, a source with knowledge of the matter told Reuters that Anvisa was set to loosen the requirements around emergency use approvals.
Brazil's Health Ministry on Wednesday said it is negotiating the acquisition of 30 million doses of Russia's Sputnik V vaccine and India's Covaxin vaccine.
The move comes after The Lancet medical journal this week published results showing Sputnik V - named after the Soviet-era satellite - to be safe and 91.6 per cent effective, allaying concerns over transparency.
Brazil began vaccinations Jan 17, starting with medical workers, the indigenous population and the elderly. With 212 million inhabitants,
Russian biomedical centre Gamaleya will be able to offer 10 million Sputnik V vaccine doses in February and March if a deal is reached, and Bharat Biotech will be able to offer 8 million doses of Covaxin in February and another 12 million in March, the ministry said in a statement. It said the parties would meet on Friday to discuss the supply deal.
Brazil has suffered an average of 1,062 deaths and 50,000 cases per day in the past week.
On Wednesday, it registered 56,002 new cases and 1,254 related deaths, according to data released by the Health Ministry.
The country has registered 9,339,420 total confirmed cases and 227,563 deaths due to the virus - the highest death toll outside the United States.
