Dias says he is waiting for the health decision on Sputnik V until Friday (23)

Northeast Federation President and Governor of Piauí, Wellington Dias (PT), said in an interview with CNN Waiting for the Ministry of Health to respond to the inclusion of the Sputnik V vaccine in the National Immunization Program (PNI) until Friday (23).

The first batch of Russian immunizing agent, which will arrive in Brazil next Wednesday (28), may be delayed. This is because the Russian sovereign fund is requesting that the vaccine be included in the PNI before the delivery schedule is released.

“We have drafted a formal request to the Minister of Health, Minister Marcelo Quiroga, so that he can give us an official position and the expectation is that by this Friday we will have official information. Hopefully that will be to keep the Sputnik vaccine because the more vaccines there are, the faster the Brazilians will be vaccinated. “.

In a press conference on Wednesday (21), Quiroga said that the Russian and Indian Covaxin vaccines should not be included in the PNI, because the country has already secured 600 million doses of other vaccines against Covid-19.

Quiroga also noted that the two vaccines are facing difficulties with the National Health Surveillance Agency (Anvisa).

However, Wellington Dias explained that the health ministry’s contract – formalized by União Química – with the Russians is different from the agreement signed by the Northeast Consortium.

Also according to the governor of Piauí, it is up to state administrators to apply the vaccines – if they reach Brazil – and to meet Anvisa’s requirements.

“It is expected that we will be able to receive this payment, and we really hope that until next week, so that we can get through this phase immediately. What Anvisa has acknowledged is that we will be able to move forward,” he said.

Anvisa approved the controlled import of vaccines, with strict restrictions

On June 4, the Collective Council of the National Health Surveillance Agency, by 4 votes to 1, authorized the temporary and exceptional import of the Sputnik V vaccine from Russia, but with restrictions on the use of the immunizing agent in the country.

In the case of Sputnik V, Anvisa allowed states to import an amount to vaccinate at most 1% of their population. 17 states have closed the purchase of 37 million doses of the immunizing agent.