Brazil bans import of Sputnik V, says Russian COVID-19 vaccine contains live cold virus

Brazil’s health regulator on April 28 announced that it has banned the import of Russia’s COVID-19 vaccine, Sputnik V “due to the lack of consistent and reliable data.” As per the statement by Brazil’s  National Health Surveillance Agency or Anvisa, the five-person board “unanimously decided not to authorize the exceptional import of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine. of the 30-day period established by the Federal Supreme Court (STF), in a decision rendered by Minister Ricardo Lewandowski.” The South American nation has also alleged that the batches it received from Russia were tested and they carried a live version of a common cold-causing virus.

According to a slideshow that was uploaded online, scientists at Anvisa said that they tested the samples of the booster shot, Sputnik V and found it was “replication-competent” which means that once inside the body, the adenovirus can further multiply. They reportedly also added that this had likely occurred because of a manufacturing defect called “recombination” which means that modified adenovirus regains its genes that are required for replication while it was being grown inside the engineered human cells in a lab.

Russia rejects Brazil health regulator’s report

The Russian Direct Investment Fund, responsible for the manufacturing of Sputnik V rejected the Brazil health regulator’s report in a three-page statement and termed the decision “political.” RDIF said, “The decision by Brazil’s National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa) to delay the approval of Sputnik V is, unfortunately, of a political nature and has nothing to do with the regulator’s access to information or science.” Russia further cited the decision by Brazil’s Ministry of Science, Technology and Innovation (MCTI) “which recognized the Sputnik V vaccine as safe and permitted its production in Brazil” contradicting Anvisa’s declaration.

RDIF added, “The Sputnik V team has addressed the technical issues raised by Anvisa board members during the meeting on April 26 to demonstrate that these allegations have no scientific grounds and cannot be treated seriously in the scientific community and among international regulators.”

The Brazil-Russia row over Sputnik V came after the Drug Controller General of India (DCGI) approved the Sputnik V COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use on April 13. India approved the third vaccine against the novel coronavirus and Sputnik V is also the first foreign jab authorised in the nation after Covishield, developed by Oxford University-AstraZeneca and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India (SII), and Bharat Biotech’s Covaxin.

Image credits: AP