‘Sputnik V-BR’: Ambassador believes Russian vaccine may be fully produced in Brazil

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Russia’s ambassador to Brazil, Sergey Akopov, is excited about the prospects of producing the Russian vaccine against SARS-CoV-2, the Sputnik V, on Brazilian soil.

Akopov praised the facilities of Brazilian pharmaceutical company União Química, its production partner in the country, and believes that Brazil will not need to import raw materials for the production of the Russian vaccine.

“In Latin America, Brazil was chosen as the country with the appropriate physical conditions and industrial facilities not only to bottle the vaccine, but to produce it from start to finish. We have several partners here in Brazil, several state governments have declared their intention to participate in this program, and a great partner has been found, which is the fully national company União Química,” said Akopov in an interview with BandNews on Monday, February 15th.

The ambassador stressed the significance of cooperation between all countries so that the novel coronavirus pandemic may be controlled as soon as possible.

“It is perfectly clear that if a country by itself takes all measures to immunize its own population, it will not be able to overcome this scourge that is Covid-19. The broader vaccination is in the world’s best interests because only by combining the efforts of all countries and all scientists in the world will it be possible to defeat this disease,” Akopov stressed.

The ambassador pointed out that Brazil is fully capable of mass-producing the Sputnik V and suggested that the vaccine produced in Brazil should be named Sputnik VBR, “because it would be a fully Brazilian vaccine, produced here,” he noted. According to Akopov, the Gamaleya National Research Center for Epidemiology and Microbiology has already transferred all production technology to União Química.

On Sunday, February 14th, the Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency ANVISA announced that, between March 8th and 12th, it will inspect the União Química plant in Guarulhos, São Paulo, which will produce the Sputnik V in Brazil.

Sputnik V’s efficacy and safety

The Sputnik V Russian vaccine has already been approved in several countries, such as Belarus, Argentina, Bolivia, Serbia, Venezuela, Hungary, Mexico and Nicaragua.

On August 11th, 2020, Russia registered its first vaccine against Covid-19, the Sputnik V, developed by the Gamaleya Center in cooperation with the Russian Direct Investment Fund.

On February 2nd, 2021, British scientific journal The Lancet published the Russian vaccine’s phase 3 clinical trial results confirming its safety and a 91.6% efficacy.

Brazil has recorded 239,773 deaths from Covid-19, according to the Ministry of Health’s report released on Monday, February 15th. The Ministry also reported 9,866,710 infections to date.

Source: Sputnik

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