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Sputnik V
Photo: KIRILL KUDRYAVTSEV / AFP
The developer of the Russian vaccine Sputnik V has announced a libel suit against the Brazilian regulatory agency Anvisa for refusing to import the vaccine.
Anvisa had "knowingly distributed false and inaccurate information" about the vaccine, wrote the Russian manufacturer on Twitter.
The company was not more specific.
Anvisa justified the import refusal on Monday with a lack of data on safety and effectiveness.
Brazil had started its vaccination campaign against the novel coronavirus in January, using the Astrazeneca vaccine and the Chinese preparation Coronavac.
Last week the government announced it had ordered ten million cans of Sputnik V.
In addition, around a dozen states had applied for the import of the Russian vaccine and had already signed contracts for the purchase of more than 30 million vaccine doses.
On Monday, in addition to the import ban for Sputnik V, Brazil announced that it had also ordered 100 million doses of the Biontech / Pfizer vaccine and 38 million doses of vaccine from the US pharmaceutical company Johnson & Johnson.
Russia approved its corona vaccine in the summer of last year - even before the clinical trials were completed.
This had sparked international skepticism about the effectiveness of the vaccine.
The vaccine is now approved in dozens of countries.
According to a study published in the prestigious journal »The Lancet«, Sputnik V has an effectiveness of 91.6 percent against corona infections with symptoms.
Sputnik V has not yet been approved in the EU, but the EU Medicines Agency (EMA) has already started a so-called rolling process for the approval of the vaccine.
ssu / AFP / Reuters
