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Brazilian watchdog’s delegation to visit Sputnik V production in Russia — chief

The Anvisa chief added that the watchdog will soon meet with Russian Ambassador to Brazil Alexei Labetsky to discuss this matter

RIO DE JANEIRO, April 7. /TASS/. A delegation of Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) will pay a visit to Russia to inspect the Sputnik V production facility, the organization’s head, Antonio Barra Torres, said on Tuesday.

"In the course of the conversation between presidents [Jair] Bolsonaro and [Vladimir] Putin, it was confirmed that our sanitary mission will be sent to Russia, on Russia’s consent, so that we could examine the enterprise producing both the vaccine itself and its ingredients," the official said in a video, posted on the Brazilian leader’s Facebook page.

The Anvisa chief added that the watchdog will soon meet with Russian Ambassador to Brazil Alexei Labetsky to discuss this matter.

Brazilian Health Minister Marcelo Queiroga, who was present during the phone conversation of the two leaders, said his ministry remained in touch with both Sputnik V developer, the Gamaleya National Research Center of Epidemiology and Microbiology, and local pharmaceutical company Uniao Quimica, which is to localize its production in Brazil.

So far, the use of Sputnik V has not yet been officially approved in Brazil. Uniao Quimica, which represents the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF) in Brazil, submitted a new registration request to Anvisa on March 26. In line with the current legislation, such requests are to be considered within seven days, but the deadline can be put off if some of the required documents were not submitted in time. On March 27, Anvisa suspended the review for an indefinite period, saying that it has not yet received some of the required documents.

This is not the first delay in the Russian vaccine’s review, and Uniao Quimica’s chief Fernando Marques earlier accused Anvisa of deliberate delays for the benefit of other COVID-19 vaccine manufacturers. In early January, Uniao Quimica received cell material to manufacture the vaccine and began producing a trial batch of its active components for research purposes. Earlier, the company announced plans to produce up to 8 million doses of Sputnik V per month.

Kirill Dmitriev, the head of the Russian Direct Investment Fund (RDIF), said on February 4 Sputnik V could be delivered to Brazil two weeks after its approval by the national regulator.