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Coronavirus pandemic

Brazil to sign letter of intent on potential purchase of Russian COVID-19 vaccine

Brazil is set to receive nearly 143 mln COVID-19 vaccine doses, which can be used to vaccinate about a third of the country’s population

© Vyacheslav Pokofyev/TASS

RIO DE JANEIRO, November 23. /TASS/. The Brazilian Health Ministry is getting ready to sign a letter of intent with the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) on the possible purchase of the Russian COVID-19 vaccine "Sputnik V." Similar letters will be signed with Pfizer, Janssen-Cilag, Bharat Biotech and Moderna, the ministry’s press service informed.

Last week, Brazilian healthcare officials met with representatives of vaccine developers "to discuss technical details of the vaccines’ production, matters of security and effectiveness as well as the logistical aspects related to their delivery." "Now, the health ministry will sign letters of intent with those companies that do not impose any legal obligations, which will allow to purchase doses [of the vaccines] in the future in accordance with the proposed delivery schedule after the corresponding protocols are complete," the document says.

The health ministry reminded that in accordance with the signed contracts, Brazil is set to receive nearly 143 mln COVID-19 vaccine doses, which can be used to vaccinate about a third of the country’s population. Besides, 110 mln vaccine doses are planned to be produced on the Fiocruz platform on Brazil in 2021. The ministry is monitoring the clinical trials of 270 COVID-19 vaccines in various states.

So far, Brazil's National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) has approved clinical trials of four COVID-19 vaccines in the country: Sinovac Biotech, AstraZeneca, Pfizer and Janssen-Cilag. In late October, the Russian Direct Investment Fund announced that it, together with the Brazilian company Uniao Quimica Farmaceutica Nacional, had submitted a set of documents to register the Russian Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine in Anvisa. The documents were filed to the Brazilian regulator on October 29, 2020, the fund said.

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