U.S. pressured Brazil not to buy Sputnik V, Trump administration document shows

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Brazilian government announced on Saturday the purchase of 10 million doses of the Russian vaccine.

A US government report prepared during the Trump administration claims that the country persuaded Brazil not to buy the Sputnik V, the vaccine against the novel coronavirus developed by Russia.

The information is contained in a document from the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) concerning actions taken in 2020.

The HHS is responsible for the CDC (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention), the country’s health agency, and the FDA (Food and Drug Administration), a regulatory body similar to ANVISA, the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency.

Under the Trump administration, the department was led by Alex Azar between 2018 and 2021, a former big pharma executive who served as head of the country’s coronavirus response team at the start of the pandemic.

In the section that addresses “countering malicious influences in the Americas,” the document points out that the HHS Office of Global Affairs “used diplomatic ties in the region to mitigate the efforts” of Cuba, Venezuela, and Russia, “which are working to expand their influence in the region at the expense of the United States’ security.”

The report mentions two instances of coordination with other US government agencies to “strengthen diplomatic ties and offer technical and humanitarian assistance to dissuade countries in the region from accepting aid from these ill-intentioned states”: The use of the OGA health attaché’s office to persuade Brazil to reject the Russian Covid-19 vaccine; and
the CDC’s technical assistance offer to Panama to not accept an offer of Cuban doctors.

Questioned, the Russian sovereign wealth fund, which is financing the Sputnik V, said that “the US Health Department has publicly confirmed that it pressured Brazil against the Sputnik V” and criticized the US government. “Countries must work together to save lives. Efforts to undermine vaccines are unethical and cost lives.”

Brazil’s Foreign Ministry, the US State Department and the HHS did not reply to a request for comment.

OGA stands for Office of Global Affairs, which has health attachés “in nearly every region of the world,” according to the HHS. The department says that “health attachés are the main point of contact for global diplomacy.”

Currently, the US has health attachés in Brazil, China, India, Mexico, South Africa, and the country’s UN mission in Geneva. However, there are no details in the HHS document as to how this “persuasion” would have been exerted on the Bolsonaro government.

Sputnik V in Brazil

On Friday, March 12th, the Brazilian government announced the purchase of 10 million doses of the Sputnik V. The announcement was made after the Northeast governors consortium negotiated another 37 million doses of the Russian vaccine.

Despite the federal and state government announcements, the Sputnik V has not yet been authorized by ANVISA for emergency use in Brazil.

The vaccine was developed by the Gamaleya Institute, is 91.6% effective and was the first to be authorized for emergency use in the world in August, even before the end of clinical trials.

Brazil is currently using the CoronaVac and Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccines in its National Immunization Program (PNI). Pfizer’s vaccine has already been granted final registration by the country’s regulator, but the federal government has not yet purchased the immunizer.

Source: G1